Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan criticized Nov. 30 the organization’s decision to commemorate the Palestinian “Nakba" in May 2023. The Arabic term Nakba — which means disaster — is used to designate the anniversary of the creation in 1948 of the State of Israel, and is annually marked in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip with anti-Israel demonstrations. Erdan argued that instead of marking the Palestinian Nakba, the United Nations should commemorate the “Jewish Nakba." He was referring to the expulsion of between 750,000 and 1 million Jews from Arab countries and from Iran in the years after the November 1947 UN resolution on the partition plan and the ensuing establishment of Israel in May 1948.
Speaking at the UN podium, Erdan called to recognize the expulsion by force of Jews from Arab and Muslim countries, stating, “These Jewish communities did not revolt against the international community’s decision; they did not try to annihilate another people; their only crime was being Jews. This is the true Nakba. This is the disaster carried out against the Jewish people, and this is the disaster that this body has ignored for decades. Look at this family [picture of Jews fleeing an Arab country] that was expelled. Stop ignoring the ‘Jewish Nakba’!"
