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MAY 23 • 2024 | 7
J
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did not happen overnight. 
It was the result of 
years of incitement and 
delegitimization here, here at 
the U.N. … The anti-Israel 
vitriol spread here by this 
organization is what sparked 
what we are seeing today on 
college campuses … You are 
emboldening antisemites and 
terrorists alike.”
• “It is because of you mobs 
think that attacking Jews is 
acceptable.”
• “Today is the ninth 
general assembly meeting 
held on Gaza since Hamas’ 
massacre. Ninth. Not one 
of the meetings focused 
on condemning Hamas or 
releasing the hostages; not 
even one. I am disgusted by 
this institution.”
• “You are not interested 
in criticizing rogue states; 
you are interested only in 
smearing the Jewish state.”
 • “The clock is ticking and 
soon the world will wake up 
and see the disaster the U.N. 
has become. In the future … 

students will study the fall 
of the U.N. They will learn 
of this organization’s moral 
bankruptcy and blindness. 
They will be taught that your 
indifference and hypocrisy 
is what brought the U.N. 
crashing down.”
• “But this is also what will 
prompt the establishment of a 
new world institution, a force 
for good, one with a strong 

moral compass, democratic 
values, a body that will refuse 
to give dictators a free pass 
and terrorists a lifeline.”
• “Mark my words, the 
U.N.’s days are numbered.”
Setting aside Erdan’s 
prediction of the U.N.’s 
demise, he is, of course, 
correct about the U.N.’s 
antisemitism. It has been a 
cesspool of anti-Israel feelings 

for years, reaching its peak 
in 1975 when it adopted a 
resolution equating Zionism 
with racism. The resolution 
was revoked in 1991, but 
the damage was done, and 
revocation was meaningless 
since its politics did not 
change.
In 2022, the U.N. adopted 
15 anti-Israel resolutions, two 
more critical resolutions than 
for all the other 193 countries 
in the general assembly — 
combined.
The question raised by 
Erdan’s speech: Should he 
have been so “aggressive,” or 
might he have tempered his 
language?
In strategic sessions, Israel 
probably decided to let Erdan 
proceed — let it all hang 
out, so to speak — because, 
unfortunately, it has nothing 
to lose in the U.N.
And that is the saddest 
moral of this story. 

Berl Falbaum is a veteran journalist 

and author of 12 books.

the kids up, and gave it to 
them in whatever would hold 
liquid — cups, canteens, even 
helmets — spooning it out as 
fast as they possibly could in 
an attempt to rehydrate the 
children and make them able 
to accept normal food. 
My friend’s father told of 
walking along that line of 
children waiting for soup and 
coming upon a bundle of rags 
lying in the dirt, one of the 
many children they would 
lose that day, a child who 
didn’t have the strength to 
laugh or cry, much less stand 
in line. 
And that Jewish-American 
soldier did the only thing 

one can do in that desperate 
situation. He reached down 
and picked up that bundle of 
rags, not knowing if it was 
a boy or a girl, not knowing 
if it was alive or dead, and 
he hugged that remnant of a 
child.
At that moment, the way 
my friend’s father told that 
story for the rest of his life, all 
of the starving children broke 
out of the food line, and they 
lined up to be hugged.
We must all understand that 
there are things that are more 
important than money, more 
important than food. Things 
that we can only provide to 
each other by stretching out 

a hand. That’s why in Hebrew 
the word Natan — to give — 
is a palindrome, like Mom, 
it’s the same backwards and 
forwards. When you give to 
somebody else, it’s difficult to 
say who benefits more — the 
one who gets or the one who 
gives.
We are the givers. With 
concern, compassion 
and charity, we take care 
of each other. In our 
vernacular it’s called chesed. 
Across all affiliations and 
denominations, it is our most 
consistent universal practice, 
and we model it for the world.
Yes, we have the memories, 
and the scars, and an 

enduring nervous discomfort 
about those who would harm 
us, but it is, at these times 
and all times, that we stand 
together as we always have. 
We stand with Israel, and 
we pray for our heroes in the 
IDF, all while we mourn our 
fallen souls and victims of 
terror. 
And we take care of those 
who need us, wherever they 
may be, with the endless, 
unquenchable kindness and 
compassion that is our sacred 
heritage and enduring legacy.
Am Yisrael Chai! 

Gary Torgow is president of the 

Jewish Federation of Detroit.

Yom HaZikaron: Honoring Bravery, Sacrifice continued from page 4

Gilad Erdan speaks to the UN General Assembly.

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