Danon elected chairman of UN Legal Committee

Kuwait’s representative, speaking on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), announced that the bloc of Muslim states “rejects this candidature as a matter of both principle and protocol”.

Yemen’s UN ambassador Khaled Alyemany, who heads the Arab group at the United Nations, said he had sent a message to all member-states to protest the election of the Israeli ambassador.

In his comments to reporters after the vote, Danon said Israel was “a world leader in global law and in fighting terrorism”.

This marks the first time that Israel is tasked with heading a permanent UN Committee since it officially joined the organization in 1949.

In a statement, the ministry said that it is looking at this measure with “deep concern” as the Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon was approved as head of the Sixth Committee, which is in charge of sensitive legal issues.

In line with the process of rotation among geographical groups, the Western European and Others group (WEOG) had the right to nominate a candidate to chair the sixth committee for the coming session.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon is the first Israeli representative to chair one of the UN’s permanent committees.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to share our knowledge with the countries of the world”.

Most of the work on resolutions adopted by the General Assembly is done by committees, which present measures that are agreed by all United Nations member-states. After his election, Ambassador Danon was congratulated by colleagues from around the world.

Further, Dr. Riyad H. Mansour, the UN’s Palestinian representative, tried to convince voting representatives to withhold their support of Danon until the very last minute, Ynet reported.

Committee chairs are usually selected by consensus, but in this case a vote was called at the request of Arab nations who voiced strong objections to Danon’s candidacy. Ahead of the secret ballot of all United Nations member states, the WJC had sent letters to the United Nations ambassadors of 64 countries, urging them to support Israel’s candidacy.

In the face of major adversity, Israel rose to the top and overcame its challengers.

Israel, the United States and others have for years decried what they see as an entrenched bias in United Nations institutions against Israel and an obsession with the Palestinian issue at the expense of other crises around the globe.