FIRST ON FOX: Israel's new ambassador to the United Nations has issued a stark warning to the world body amid rising 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 other than the Lebanese army, but look what's happened since 2006.”
“Hezbollah took power, controlled the region and turned this area into a center of terrorism with tens of thousands of rockets that, unfortunately, in recent months we have felt that they had the capacity,” he argued. “I think that if the UN is not able to implement the resolution, we will have to implement it and expel Hezbollah from our community in the north.”
Part of fighting 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 is time for not only Israel to address the problem of Iran, but for Western democracies to also realize that they have to put pressure on Iran and be active in preventing that country from achieving nuclear capabilities,” he said.
Danny Danon, Israel's permanent member to the United Nations, speaks during a Security Council meeting at the headquarters in New York City. (Israeli Mission to the United Nations)
“On April 14, when they sent hundreds of missiles to Israel and their intentions were… to imagine that they had nuclear capability,” Danon said. “We are not going to wait for that day to come. We will not allow them to achieve that capability.”
Danon replaced Gilad Erdan, who in May decided to end his term as permanent representative to the UN. Danon previously held the position from 2015 to 2020, after which he took up the role of Minister of Science, Technology and Space.
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Split screen showing Hamas terrorists on the left and Hezbollah Radwan forces on the right. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images | AP/Hassan Ammar)
Erdan served in the UN during the October 7 attack and for roughly the first nine months of Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip as the Israel Defense Forces pursued Hamas.
Erdan gained international fame for his fiery rhetoric, bold speeches (which included a symbolic destruction of the UN Charter) and for calling the UN a crumbling institution. Last week he declared that “the UN building in Jerusalem must be closed and wiped off the face of the Earth.”
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan shreds a piece of paper with the title of the UN Charter with a machine as he addresses delegates during the United Nations General Assembly before voting on a draft resolution that would recognize Palestinians as qualified to become full members of the UN, in New York City on May 10, 2024. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
Danon, for his part, believes that it is possible to save the UN, but to do so it will be necessary for the United States to intervene and make demands for reforms.
“Let's look at the facts,” Israeli ambassador Danny Danon told Fox News Digital. “The facts are that the UN failed to condemn… on October 7. 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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“Neither the Security Council, nor the General Assembly, not even a small sign of condemnation: zero. Nothing. Silence. This is unacceptable and demonstrates the UN's double standards when it comes to Israel,” Danon argued.
The Palestinian flag and Hezbollah flag flutter in the wind on a flagpole as peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon patrol the border area between Lebanon and Israel at Hamames hill in the Khiyam area of southern Lebanon, on October 13, 2023. (Photo by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)
“I think we should reform the UN and I hope the United States will lead the charge to change it,” he added. “I think the UN is an important organization and we need to reform it and make sure that it focuses on the real goals of promoting security and peace and does not become a platform for hatred and incitement by radical countries.”
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“I think the biggest country, the strongest, the one that spends the most of its budget, should be making demands and looking at the performance of the UN, the UN resolution, and asking for accountability and making sure that attention is focused in the right places,” Danon argued. “Today, that is not happening.”
The United States contributed more than $18 billion to the United Nations in 2022, accounting for one-third of the agency's collective budget, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
