UN General Assembly backs Palestinian membership

NEW YORK — Israel’s United Nations ambassador physically fed a copy of the U.N. charter into a shredder to illustrate what he said was the General Assembly’s disregard for the document as delegates voted to advance Palestinian membership to the world body.

The stunt came just before the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a resolution asking the Security Council to make Palestine, which has U.N. observer status, into a full member.

Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan, invoking the Holocaust, World War II and the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, ripped his colleagues for wanting to “advance the establishment of a Palestinian terror state led by the Hitler of our time.”

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour, speaking just before Erdan, deplored the death toll in Gaza and cited the anti-war protests at Columbia University as he implored the assembly to vote “Yes.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu, he said, was “ready to kill thousands more for his political survival.”

Erdan accused Mansour of shedding “crocodile tears,” noting that no Palestinian officials had denounced Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

The resolution passed with delegates from 143 countries voting yes, while nine — including the U.S. — voted no, and 25 abstained.

Explaining America’s opposition, U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood described Friday’s overwhelming U.N. General Assembly vote as a “unilateral” step that won’t advance peace in Israel and Palestine.

“Our vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood; we have been very clear that we support it and seek to advance it meaningfully,” Wood said in a statement. “Instead, it is an acknowledgment that statehood will come only from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties.”