FIRST ON FOX: The new Israeli ambassador to the United Nations has issued a stern warning to the international body amid escalating tensions with Hezbollah and concerns that Iran could be close to obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Ambassador Danny Danon told Fox News Digital that Security Council Resolution 1701 “said very clearly that there would be no military force in southern Lebanon besides the Lebanese military, but look what happened since 2006.”
“Hezbollah took over, they controlled the region, and they made this area a hub for terrorism with tens of thousands of rockets that, unfortunately, in the last few months, we felt the capabilities,” he argued. “I think if the U.N. is not capable of implementing the resolution, we will have to implement the resolution and push Hezbollah away from our community in the north.”
Part of tackling the various groups in the Middle East – such as Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen – requires dealing with Iran.
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“I think it’s about time that not only Israel will deal with Iran, but the Western democracies will realize that they have to put pressure on Iran, they have to be active in order to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities,” he said.
Israeli Permanent Member to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks during a session of the Security Council at the New York City headquarters. (Israel United Nations mission)
“We thought on April 14 when they sent hundreds of projectiles into Israel and their intentions … imagine they had nuclear capabilities,” Danon noted. “We will not wait for that day. We will not allow them to achieve nuclear capabilities.”
Danon replaced Gilad Erdan, who in May decided to end his tenure as the permanent representative to the U.N. Danon previously held the role from 2015 until 2020, after which he took the role of Minister of Science, Technology and Space.
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Split screen showing Hamas terrorists on left, Hezbollah Radwan forces on the right. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images | AP/Hassan Ammar)
Erdan served in the U.N. during the Oct. 7 attack and roughly the first nine months of Israel’s incursion into the Gaza Strip as the Israeli Defense Forces hunted down Hamas.
Erdan rose to international prominence for his fiery rhetoric, his bold speeches – including symbolically shredding the U.N. charter – and labeling the United Nations as a broken institution. Just last week, he declared that “the U.N. building in Jerusalem needs to be closed and erased from the face of the Earth.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan destroys with a machine a piece of paper with the title of the United Nations Charter as he addresses delegates during the United Nations General Assembly before voting on a draft resolution that would recognize the Palestinians as qualified to become a full U.N. member, in New York City on May 10, 2024. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
Danon, on the other hand, believes that the U.N. can be saved – but it requires the U.S. to step in and make demands to seek reform.
“Let’s look at the facts,” Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon told Fox News Digital. “The facts are that the UN was not able to condemn … October 7th. I cannot accept that.”
Former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. (Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“Not the Security Council, nor the General Assembly, not even a small show condemnation: Zero. Nothing. Silence. That’s unacceptable, and it showed that the double standards of the U.N. when it comes to Israel,” Danon argued.
The Palestinian flag and the flag of Hezbollah wave in the wind on a pole as peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon patrol the border area between Lebanon and Israel on Hamames Hill in the Khiyam area of southern Lebanon on Oct. 13, 2023. (Photo by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)
“I think we should reform the U.N., and I expect the U.S. to lead the action to change the U.N.,” he added. “I think the U.N. is an important organization, and we have to reform it and make sure that the U.N. will focus on the real objects of promoting security and peace and not becoming a platform for hate and incitement by radical countries.”
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“I think that the major country – the strongest country, that allocates most of their budget should come with demands and look at the performance of the U.N., the resolution of the U.N. and ask for accountability and make sure that the focus will be on the right places,” Danon argued. “It’s not happening today.”
The U.S. contributed more than $18 billion to the United Nations in 2022, accounting for one-third of funding for the body’s collective budget, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.