When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Danny Danon as the permanent representative to the UN, many raised an eyebrow and called the choice surprising. In retrospect, some now admit that appointing a skilled and cunning politician with a direct link to the Prime Minister's Office managed to open quite a few doors and bring about many achievements for Israel in the United Nations.

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Recently, Danon was elected to head the UN's Legal Committee, one of the General Assembly's six permanent committees that deals with sensitive topics in international law. Danon's election, which had the support of 109 states out of 193, was especially surprising because of the intense campaign waged by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, including the Palestinians and the Iranians, against his appointment.

Danny Danon at the UN General Assembly (Photo: Shahar Azran)

This is the first time since Israel joined the UN in 1949 that its ambassador heads one of the permanent committees, and there are those who are calling this achievement "historic."

A short while later, the Israeli delegation attained a further achievement. Prof. Yuval Shany, dean of the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was elected to his second term on the UN's Human Rights Committee in Geneva. The committee comprises 18 experts from different countries and is responsible for the compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in different countries.

"The fact that I come from Israel and know the dilemmas related to balancing human rights and security needs gives me a certain advantage," said Shany. "I believe that it gives my opinions on these topics a lot of weight on the committee."

While all the members are professionals in their fields, the election process is highly political. Shany won widespread acclaim for his performance in his first time, yet he still ran into difficulties when he asked to be re-elected with 40 Muslim states opposing his appointment. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli delegation to the UN ran a long campaign to persuade as many countries as possible to support him, and Shany himself also met with representatives of more than 100 countries and held multiple receptions and lectures. The decision, in the end, came down to a single vote, at least in the first round.

The vote that led to Danon's appointment in the UN

The Israeli delegation is not resting on its laurels and is already preparing for its next—and most ambitious—goal: a seat on the Security Council in two years. The Western European and Others Group, of which Israel is a member, is expected to select two non-permanent members to join the council in 2019–2020. Currently, three are competing: Germany, Belgium, and Israel.

The Germans' seat is practically guaranteed, so the true fight will be with Belgium. Israel begins this battle at a disadvantage of some 40–60 votes from Muslim, Arab and anti-Israeli states. "It's realistic," claims Danon. "Until recently, Israel was treated as the UN's whipping boy, but we've proven that good work can lead to important victories."