By Alan Dershowitz | Friday, 03 October 2025 11:05 AM EDT
I recently attended the United Nations to observe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s annual speech to the general assembly. What transpired before the address began left me convinced that the United Nations is no longer merely on life support—it is clinically dead.
More than half of the delegates walked out upon Netanyahu’s introduction, refusing to hear Israel’s perspective on the Mideast conflict. If the UN has any legitimate purpose, it is to facilitate dialogue on global disputes. Yet many member nations choose not to listen to Israel at all. Some do not even acknowledge Israel as the Jewish people’s sovereign state.
Paradoxically, these same countries often recognize the non-existent entity of “Palestine.” This contradiction persists despite historical and logical inconsistencies, as several nations that endorse Palestine do so to reject Israel’s existence. The UN’s support for a two-state solution remains negligible, with many Palestinian supporters advocating it as an alternative to Israel rather than a coexisting state.
The mass walkout was not solely a reaction to the Gaza war. Many of these countries have repeatedly boycotted Israel even before the conflict began. My own experience attending Netanyahu’s speeches since his tenure as prime minister confirms this pattern. The scale of Friday’s protest was larger, but participants would likely continue their defiance regardless of the war’s outcome.
Delegates could express dissent through resolutions condemning specific policies rather than abandoning the dialogue entirely. Yet the UN’s failure to engage all perspectives undermines its core purpose. Debate requires listening to opposing views, a principle the organization has abandoned.
The United Nations’ decline is not new. In the 1960s, Israeli diplomat Abba Eban humorously noted that Algeria could pass a resolution claiming the world is flat, and Israel would be the sole dissenting vote. Today, while countries pretend to engage in debate, they actively exclude Israel from meaningful discourse.
The UN’s current role as an ineffectual body fostering bigotry and anti-Semitism raises questions about its value. Specialized agencies like those addressing health or aviation may still function independently if the organization were dissolved. Others, such as refugee and human rights bodies, exacerbate global issues rather than resolving them.
As a former advocate of the UN, I now question the United States’ continued membership. The organization has become a symbol of hypocrisy, unworthy of American support. I endorse legislation to withdraw U.S. participation, mirroring its stance on the International Court of Justice.
The UN’s collapse would not be a loss but a reckoning for an institution that has failed to uphold its founding ideals.
