Stop Saying The UN Created Israel

On this day 69 years ago, November 29 1947, the United Nations voted in favor of partitioning the British Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. This legal recognition of Jewish statehood was important but despite what you will hear throughout the day, even from many Israel-supporters, this did not create the Jewish State!

While the UNGA did vote for partition (33 for, 13 against, 10 abstentions) it was never enforced because even though the Zionist leadership accepted it, the Arabs, both inside and outside the Mandate, rejected it. Riots by local Arabs began almost immediately, but the Arab states held off on attacking until after the British officially withdrew on May 15, 1948, one day after Israel declared independence.

The only reason why Israel was created and survived was because Zionists declared statehood and defended it with their lives. The UN did give legal backing to Jewish statehood (just the latest in a long list of legal foundations for Israel as seen in the video below), but it was unwilling to do anything to make this happen.

One of the central tenets of Zionism has always been Jewish self-reliance because, when the chips are down, the only one Jews can count on to defend us is us, the Jewish People. This was true throughout history when well-meaning non-Jews looked the other way at anti-Jewish violence, it was true when many good people in Europe said nothing during the Holocaust and it was true when the UN said it favored Jewish Rights but then didn’t lift a finger to protect them.

So yes, the United Nations did take a good step forward in 1947 when it voted in favor of partition, but no, it did not create the State of Israel. If you’re looking for someone to thank for that, thank our Founding Fathers for having the chutzpah to declare independence when the world turned its back on us, or, better yet, thank an Israeli soldier for putting their life on the line to make sure our dream of an independent Jewish State stays alive.

9 thoughts on “Stop Saying The UN Created Israel”

  1. May I suggest one correction to your well thought out article.

    On November 29th, the UN voted, not in favor of partitioning the British Mandate of Palestine, but in favor of a second partition of the British Mandate.

    The British Mandate of Palestine had already been partitioned once, in 1920, by the British. This first partition divided Palestine into a Jewish portion (west of the Jordan) and an Arab portion (east of the Jordan).

    The second, 1947, partition would have divided Jewish Palestine, but would have left Arab Palestine unaffected.

  2. Well, that has put a damper on things. Have to cancel that surprise birthday party we were planning for you now, Israel. Never mind. You’re still looking good. You don’t look a day over 68. Catch you again later in the springtime.

  3. Another historical error is that the US was a firm supporter of Israel in its beginning years. Au contraire mon ami – the US government first under Truman immediately imposed an arms embargo on Israel and the Eisenhower administration from 1953 -57 was rather hostile – thanks to Eisenhower’s naiveté and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’s imbecility and anti-Semitism. However after Nasser’s duplicity at Suez and the overthrow of the pro western regime in Iraq in 1958, finally sank into their thick skulls, Eisenhower’s and Dulles’s attitudes evolved. It really wasn’t until after the Six Day War that the US started becoming more pro Israel.

    1. Norman_In_New_York

      Truman’s arms embargo was imposed across the board and the UN followed suit. Israel received the bulk of its armaments from Czechoslovakia in defiance of this resolution, and when the British tried to weasel out of the embargo claiming contractual obligations to the Arabs, Truman called them out on it. The Czech officials who sold Israel these vital armaments paid for it with their lives four years later when Stalin staged the Slansky trials.

      Dulles died in 1958 unrepentant.

      1. According to the new book “Ike’s Gamble” by Michael Doran (a book I highly recommend by the way), Dulles actually regretted his anti-Israel policy after he finally realized that Nasser was a lying S.O.B. as well as an Arab Imperialist. As for the Czech’s, they did what they did with Stalin’s approval. Dulles by the way died in 1959.

  4. Norman_In_New_York

    In one history book I read, Abba Eban, then the Jewish Agency’s UN delegate, told a group of American Jewish supporters what was behind obtaining a favorable vote on partition. Those that were prepared to vote for the resolution stipulated that they were opposed to defending the Jewish state themselves, but demanded its residents would provide for their own defense. Eban had to reassure them they would, and added “They will take us gravely at our word.”

  5. ahad_ha_amoratsim

    With all due respect, I would amend that to say “when the chips are down, the only PEOPLE Jews can count on to defend us is us, the Jewish People.” Because without the support of Avinu Shebashamyim, we can’t defend ourselves, either.

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