This is an article from the July 18, 1975 edition of the B’nai Brith Messenger about the newly appointed Israeli ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Chaim Herzog. The article appears in a column called “Our Letter from Israel,” which provided the readers with a weekly news update from Israel. This week’s column was entitled “Israel Sending Tough Fighter to U.N.,” and it introduced Chaim Herzog, the former head of military intelligence, who had been appointed Israel’s ambassador to the UN. The author describes the hostile environment of the UN due to Arab pressure on developing countries to vote against Israel. Herzog is quoted as stating that the goal of the Arab countries is to destroy the Security Council:
" The U.N. is a front not unlike the military fronts we are confronting today and I’ve got no illusions about what is facing me. Israel cannot expect a fair hearing at the United Nations."
Herzog continues by saying that the United States is Israel’s ally in the UN but it, too, is being given false information by the Arab countries. Herzog feels that it is very important for Israel to deliver its message to all of the citizens of the United States and not only those living on the East Coast, because they all vote for congressmen who make decisions about the US relationship with Israel. Herzog is critical of the Israeli government and diaspora Jewish leaders who did not confront the Arab boycott early enough. The article ends with a message from Herzog to American Jewry:
"We have got to stick together in this fight. Let us make no mistake: a blow at Israel is a blow at the entire Jewish people. In the last analysis, our enemies are not united – but we can be if we close ranks."
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Chaim Herzog – Chaim Herzog (1918–1997) was the sixth president of the State of Israel. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Sarah and Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac HaLevi Herzog, chief rabbi of Ireland and later chief rabbi of Israel, he moved to Israel in 1935 to study at the Merkaz Harav yeshiva. After studying in yeshiva, Herzog joined the Haganah. In 1938, he returned to England to study law and later volunteered to join the British Army. Herzog was an intelligence officer during World War II and participated in the liberation of Bergen Belsen and the interrogation of the Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler. In 1947, Herzog returned to Israel where he rejoined the Haganah as an intelligence officer and participated in important battles during the War of Independence. He rose to the rank of general in the Israel Defense Force and was discharged in 1962. Herzog remained in the public eye and broadcasted daily commentaries which bolstered morale during difficult times, especially around the Six-Day War. In 1975, Herzog was named Israel’s ambassador to the UN, the same year that the UN passed a resolution determining Zionism as a form of racism. At the end of his famous speech at the UN on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, Herzog ripped up the paper on which the resolution was written. Later, he said that his inspiration was his grandfather, the chief rabbi of the Land of Israel, who had publicly ripped up the White Paper. Herzog was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Labour Party in 1981 and served until 1983, when he was chosen as the sixth president of the State of Israel. He served as president until his death in 1997. His son, Yitchak (Bougie) Herzog is also an Israeli politician and serves as the chair of the Jewish Agency.
The United Nations (UN) – The United Nations was founded in 1945 and is currently is made up of 193 member states. Two major groups within the UN are the General Assembly and the Security Council. The UN was created as a forum for countries to negotiate and solve problems in a peaceful environment. In August 1947, the UN decided unanimously that the British Mandate in Palestine should be terminated. The UN Special Committee for Palestine (UNSCOP) visited the country and drew up a plan to partition the Land of Israel into two independent states: one Jewish and one Arab. On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted in favour of this resolution, leading to the establishment of the State of Israel. Over the years, the Arab countries and their allies have grown in number and they have managed to pass resolutions condemning Israel with ease. For example, in 1975, the UN passed (and later repealed in 1991) a resolution equating Zionism with racism. In recent years, Israel has been systematically sanctioned by the UN, while many countries who have abominable human rights records are not. In 2006, Kofi Annan, the then secretary general, said that Israel is often unfairly judged by the UN and its organisations.
B’nai Brith Messenger – The B’nai Brith Messenger was a Jewish newspaper published in Los Angeles, California from 1897–1995. It was named after the largest Reform congregation in Los Angeles and was published twice a month until the 1920s when it became a weekly publication. The newspaper chronicled a period of tremendous growth in the Los Angeles Jewish community.
