An Interview With Dan Gillerman
Ynetnews has a fascinating interview with everybody’s favorite outgoing ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman.
There are many interesting anecdotes, including his friendship with Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram, and encounters with the Syrian and Iranian ambassadors. But my favorite is his recollection of an interview on CNN during the Second Lebanon War.
“I was sitting in front of a CNN reporter who accused us of killing hundreds of Lebanese, including dozens of children, while we only lost 54 soldiers. I told her, ‘You really make me feel ashamed and apologize to you for not being able to provide you with more dramatic numbers.’ It was live, and she was pretty shocked.
This story epitomizes Dan Gillerman’s approach in my eyes. He was always able to articulate things in such a way, as to show the absurdity of the numerous condemnations of Israel. All the time while being entertaining.
As the Ynet reporter writes:
His addresses at the Security Council during the Second Lebanon War were among the best the organization has seen in recent years, and there are those who even noted that he caused the institution to awake from its boredom.
Former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton wrote in his book “Surrender is not an Option” that the Tanzanian envoy had whispered to him during one of the discussions that he couldn’t understand why the Arabs kept on asking for urgent meetings against Israel – and giving the stage to Gillerman.
Read the whole thing.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: General
You might be interested in what another Israeli ambassador said way back in 1958:
“We find that the governments of Arab countries still articulate the aim of our extermination, but er… I think it is beyond their powers to achieve it and, of course, in any international system which respects law and morality, there must be resistance to any such policy.”
http://thejagwire.blogspot.com/2008/05/timewaster-of-day.html
This is actually really sad. we will all feel a lot lonelier without Gillerman representing Israel. I doubt his replacement can ever be as formidable or influential as he was. He was a real character. We will miss you.