By John F. Di Leo, Opinion Contributor
Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stood to address the United Nations on Friday, September 26, and much of the room walked out.
The world press paints this as a repudiation.
For three-quarters of a century, the press has tried, often with success, to convince the public that the United Nations is the globe’s conscience, the one safe meeting place where world affairs are discussed in a cordial, open setting, without weaponry or invective. The media has always told the world that the United Nations has risen to its challenge of becoming the earth’s great force of peace and decorum.
But has it truly succeeded in this goal?
Again and again, the United Nations General Assembly has seen murderous dictators thump the podium with a shoe, refer to US presidents as Satan, denounce peaceful nations and champion terrorists, and outright promise the physical destruction of their foreign enemies, without so much as censure from the UN membership. The delegates all justsit still, and calmly accept it.
The UN has placed terrorist regimes in charge of charitable-sounding NGOs specifically so the most warlike among us can gain direct control of these organization’s coffers. The UN has given a mentally handicapped Swedish girl a podium from which to launch a global nanny campaign to demolish the world’s energy sources in a manner that would impoverish the entire planet.
And the UN has exceeded all private sector records of employing, tolerating and even enabling incredibly corrupt staff, as UN delegation members have become globally renowned for a reputation of financial and sexual abuse – being protected by the global array of non-prosecution agreements that no organization but the UN has ever enjoyed, and which, arguably, no other such organization should need.
But should we ever have expected any more than this from such an organization?
These are not, after all, the angels of the world, the nuns or social workers or philanthropists of societies, the local volunteers who generously offer to bake for their churches’ bake sales or cook for the funeral luncheons of their fellow parishioners. Such generous souls as these have no home in the United Nations.
Rather, the UN is the plum appointment of the oligarchies and bureaucracies of the nations of the world.
The more decent the nation and more honorable the government, the more decent their UN delegation might be. The more corrupt and vicious of the government, the more so their UN delegation will be.
And of the two groups, which would you say the world has more of: more decent nations with honorable governments, or more corrupt and vicious ones?
Any honest read of this fallen world must admit that most of the world’s nations are dreadful. Big or small, rich or poor, the world is largely run by dictatorships and Marxist oligarchies. These governments aren’t elected by popular republican elections like Israel’s is; they governments are hereditary monarchies, marxist socialist kleptocracies, or that special 3rd world communist revolutionary invention, the “one-man-one-vote-one-time” dictatorship.
Most members of the United Nations are countries where you wouldn’t want to go on a sightseeing vacation, let alone be stuck living there for life.
So it is that the most powerful people in these countries – who understandably hate their poverty-stricken, crime-filled, disease-ridden home towns and capitals as much as you or I would – fight over the opportunity to win this wonderful appointment, the opportunity to live in New York City for years, maybe even decades, as their nation’s representative to the UN, with all the wonderful benefits that entails.
Why are you or I conflicted about the possibility of a vacation to Manhattan? On the one hand: wonderful theatre, luxurious hotels, fantastic restaurants, all within blocks of each other. But on the other hand: these attractions are incredibly expensive; crime is rampant, traffic is dreadful.
United Nations delegations get to enjoy all of those positives, while suffering none of the negatives.
Their governments pay for the theatre tickets and fine dining. Their governments provide limousine service so they don’t have to worry about traffic congestion, and security guards so they don’t have to fear the muggers and gangs.
The rules of the UN – and its agreement with its host country – ensure that delegations don’t need to fear speed cops, meter maids, or even police detectives and vice cops.
In fact, a United Nations posting is a playground of debauchery for many of the world’s worst actors – so that’s exactly who the UN attracts.
Now let’s look again at Prime Minister Netanyahu and his speech.
He stood up to call on the terrorists of his region to reform, to throw down their weapons and free their innocent hostages. Mr. Netanyahu stood up to restate Israel’s commitment to the rule of law and the protection of its citizens. He stood up to call on the United Nations to fulfill their charter and squarely stand for peace and human rights across the world.
What does that say about the people who walked out?
The United Nations has, in fact, become the opposite of what it was founded to be.
The United Nations has become an enabler of corruption, a do-nothing onlooker in an age of wars and violence, a spender of money and an enabler of evil.
Prime Minister Netanyahu should wear that walkout as a badge of honor.
Israel is fortunate indeed that Divine Providence blessed it with such a leader in this time of need.
Copyright 2025 John F Di Leo
By Kirsten Lindberg, Guest Opinion ContributorCharlie Kirk was not executed for a “difference of opinion,” as many commentators have framed it. He was executed because he made arguments....
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