At the UN, I speak to countries that ignore Israel
DANNY DANON
DANNY DANON seems to have mellowed since his time in the Knesset.
A former Likud Minister who sits to the right of the party, Mr Danon was one of the few who openly challenged leader Benjamin Netanyahu on issues ranging from the settlements to the 2014 Gaza war.
In 2015, Mr Danon was made Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations – sent almost 6,000 miles away to the UN’s headquarters in New York.
Some speculated it was Bibi’s way of getting an outspoken rival out of the way.
“I read that,” laughs Mr Danon, who says relations between the two men are now “very good”. He adds: “I think [the Prime Minister] knew that when I didn’t agree with him, I was not afraid.
“He knew that I would take that resilience with me to the UN.”
But now, he seems more inclined to toe the line. Asked about his position on a two-state solution, Mr Danon says: “I represent the Government of Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu said clearly that he is willing to negotiate and we are waiting for President Trump’s plan, which will be made public in a few weeks.”
He adds: “I am not in a position to give my personal opinion; I represent the Government.”
The diplomatic environment has taught Mr Danon how to build relationships with representatives from hostile countries.
“There is the ‘public UN’ and the ‘private UN’. Publicly, it is hostile to Israel; privately you can achieve a lot. I have great relations with some countries that will not publicly recognise Israel.
“I can have breakfast with one of the ambassadors in my residence and an hour later, we will ignore one another in the corridor.”
He adds: “Today, I’ve learnt the strength of quiet diplomacy. Maybe in the future, people will be able to read about the things we have done.”
Mr Danon does not challenge the idea that private relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia are positive – but he does dismiss any suggestion of a closet relationship with Iran: “With the Iranians we have no relations, even privately. There are a few countries with which we don’t have any kind of contact. Iran is one of them.”
But despite his more diplomatic tone, Mr Danon – who was the first Israeli elected to chair a permanent UN committee – says his politics are unchanged.
“I still believe in the same values,” he says. “Maybe I have different techniques to achieve what I want.”
During a rally in south Tel Aviv in 2012, Mr Danon was reported to have described the African migrant situation as a “national plague”. He denies using that language: “I said we should find a way to send them back to their home countries — which is still the position of the Israeli government.”
Mr Danon believes that Israel should primarily provide refuge to Jews.
He says: “That was the goal of Zionism, to establish a homeland for the Jewish people. If we open the borders to everybody who wants to come into Israel, it will not stay a Jewish nation.”
On the settlements, he says: “No one can deny our biblical rights to the land in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem,” adding: “The settlements are not the problem… regardless of what we hear in the UN or European capitals.
“When we dismantled entire Jewish communities in Gaza and even took out the graveyards, look at what happened.
“If we pull out (of the West Bank), Hamas can take over and we will have the same reality as we have today in Gaza.”
Today, Mr Danon is trying to convince his UN colleagues to be more open about their relationship with Israel. He believes that UNRWA, UN agency for Palestinian refugees, should be disbanded for producing textbooks inciting antisemitism and for not resettling refugees. He hopes that one day a Palestinian leader will end the conflict; someone “bold enough and brave enough to face his people, stop the incitement and enter the negotiation room”.
And Mr Danon — who has not ruled out one day running for prime minister — says he has followed reports of antisemitism in Britain. Condemning Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Danon, a former Jewish Agency employee, believes the diaspora is the Jewish State’s “strongest asset”.
His message to the British Jewish community? “We are here with them; they should speak up. I do it every day at the UN in a hostile environment, but we should not be quiet. Otherwise there will be more hostility and antisemitism.”
With Iran, we have no relations — not even privately