JERUSALEM — The United Nations is pouring an estimated $100 million per year into what Israeli officials describe as a sprawling anti-Israel apparatus, raising questions about whether the world body has abandoned its peacekeeping mission to become an international propaganda machine.
Israel’s mission to the UN recently revealed an analysis of the UN’s upcoming budget that found roughly $100 million “dedicated to activities against the State of Israel, to investigations, to discussions, to comprehensive decisions that work against us,” according to Ambassador Danny Danon.
These expenditures, Danon said, are spread across a network of UN bodies, committees, and special mechanisms structurally aimed at the Jewish state.
UNRWA: The Budget’s Largest Beneficiary
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN’s dedicated agency for Palestinian refugees, is slated to receive $86.5 million next year.
UNRWA has long faced criticism for perpetuating the refugee issue and inciting hostility toward Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently called it “a corrupted organization that’s unsalvageable, period,” arguing that humanitarian aid to Palestinians could be delivered more effectively through other avenues.
Several nations, including the United States, have suspended or cut funding to UNRWA over its reported ties to the Hamas terrorist organization and its pattern of anti-Israel activity.
Division for Palestinian Rights: Permanent Advocacy Unit
Tucked inside the UN’s Department of Political Affairs, the Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR) and its associated committees, such as the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, consume approximately $4 million each year.
Unparalleled elsewhere in the UN system, this 15-person unit effectively acts as a permanent advocacy arm for the Palestinian narrative rather than a conflict-resolution body. Israeli officials note that no other group enjoys such a dedicated platform within the UN structure.
UN Human Rights Council: Institutionalized Bias
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), based in Geneva, devotes millions more to Israel-focused investigations. Its open-ended Commission of Inquiry on Israel costs around $4 million annually, producing lengthy reports that accuse Israel of war crimes while largely ignoring attacks on Israeli civilians.
The Council also maintains Agenda Item 7, a standing item that ensures Israel is scrutinized in every session, a condition no other nation faces. Western diplomats have denounced this focus, with former U.S. ambassador Richard Grenell describing it as “motivated by one thing: antisemitism.”
Other UN Programs Targeting Israel
Additional UN initiatives quietly funnel resources into anti-Israel activity.
Budget records show about $800,000 yearly funds for media training and travel for Palestinian journalists, designed to shape anti-Israel narratives in global coverage. Another $1 million supports a Middle East “Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone” conference, a process Israeli officials argue unfairly targets Israel while overlooking hostile neighbors.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights maintains staff to update a corporate blacklist of businesses operating in Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, effectively encouraging commercial boycotts.
Numerous UN “independent experts” and special rapporteurs focusing disproportionately on Israel also receive travel and administrative funding through these allocations.
Israeli Response: Paying to Be Targeted
“It is a shame that so much money is dedicated to activities against Israel instead of going to places that truly need the investment,” said Ambassador Danon, noting that humanitarian crises elsewhere receive far less support.
This irony is compounded by the fact that Israel contributes roughly $21 million in annual UN dues, while the Palestinian Authority, granted elevated observer status, contributes nothing. In effect, Israeli taxpayers help fund programs that target their own country.
UN’s Record of Disproportionate Condemnations
Beyond its budget, the UN’s pattern of resolutions underscores a systemic bias.
From 2015 through 2022, the General Assembly adopted 140 resolutions condemning Israel, compared to just 68 resolutions against all other nations combined. In 2022 alone, the Assembly passed 15 resolutions on Israel but only 13 total for the rest of the world.
Major human-rights violators such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela received none. Western observers describe this imbalance as an “ongoing lopsided focus on the Jewish state.”
A Council Obsessed
This bias deepens at the UN Human Rights Council. The infamous Agenda Item 7 institutionalizes permanent scrutiny of Israel, unique in the UN system. While other countries’ human rights records are discussed under general headings, only Israel is separated for special condemnation.
Western democracies have objected repeatedly. The United States withdrew from the Council in 2018, calling it “a cesspool of political bias.” Canada, the UK, Australia, and Germany have since joined in condemning it. London declared it would oppose every resolution submitted under Agenda Item 7, calling it “a fundamental flaw that singles out Israel on a permanent basis.”
Yet despite these protests, deeply entrenched majorities dominated by authoritarian regimes ensure the continued bias.
Historical Roots of Anti-Israel Measures
The UN’s prejudice has old roots. In 1975, the General Assembly passed a notorious resolution labeling Zionism as racism, a measure later revoked in 1991 but whose legacy persists.
UNESCO, the UN’s cultural agency, has repeatedly voted to deny Jewish historical ties to Jericho, Hebron, and Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, referring to Jewish heritage sites exclusively by their Arabic names.
As former Israeli UN envoy Gilad Erdan said during one debate, “On this stage, the right of the Jewish people to a national home has itself been declared racist. This body has been hijacked by hatred of Israel.”
The Broader Consequences
No reasonable observer contends that Israel should be immune from criticism. Like any nation, it must be accountable for its actions.
But the sheer frequency and one-sided nature of the UN’s anti-Israel activity reveal a double standard that undermines both Israel’s legitimacy and the UN’s credibility.
Every hour and dollar the UN spends on politicized condemnations of Israel is time and money not spent addressing atrocities in Syria, ethnic cleansing in China, or humanitarian crises in places like Yemen or Ukraine.
Pathways Toward Reform
Israel’s allies continue to advocate reforms to restore balance at the UN.
One proposed measure is to abolish Agenda Item 7, merging any discussion of Israel into general country reviews. Another is to disband the Division for Palestinian Rights and its associated committees, which exist solely to promote one-sided narratives.
UNRWA, too, could be restructured, folding its work into the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to ensure accountability under the same global standards as all other refugee populations.
Democracies have also sought to build coalitions to oppose repetitive anti-Israel resolutions at the UN General Assembly, with some progress seen as more nations abstain or vote “No” on biased measures.
A Call for Democratic Leadership
Former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has proposed creating an Alliance of Democracies to parallel the UN decision-making authority, ensuring that human rights standards are advanced without politicization. Regionally, Israel continues expanding diplomatic cooperation through the Abraham Accords, providing an alternative model of dialogue and peace-building beyond UN frameworks.
Jewish organizations and international watchdogs urge donor countries to condition their funding on reductions in anti-Israel bias, ensuring taxpayer money supports genuine humanitarian work, not institutional discrimination.
The Cost of Bias
Until substantial reform occurs, the UN risks remaining what many Israelis now call “the world’s most expensive anti-Israel propaganda machine.”
Israel’s allies argue that returning the UN to its founding ideals, fairness, peacekeeping, and universal human rights, is not just in Israel’s interest, but in the world’s.
As long as the UN devotes disproportionate attention to one small democracy while shielding authoritarian abusers, it continues to forfeit its moral authority and alienate those who once believed in its mission.
