After many years of engaging in bilateral diplomacy with successive US administrations and Congress, as well as public diplomacy with the American people, I had a unique opportunity to experience the multilateral arena.

Last week, I was invited by the current president of the UN Security Council, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, to brief the Council at its monthly session on the situation in the Middle East.

I have heard a lot from colleagues in the Foreign Ministry who served at the UN about the feeling of loneliness and hostility toward Israel, but my experience was completely different. In the discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, each and every one of the speakers representing the member states of the Security Council and the Arab and Muslim stakeholders in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict expressed distinctly pro-Israel positions.

Everyone spoke about the need to disarm Hamas and progress toward an arrangement that would ensure a future of security for Israel alongside a Palestinian state. I did not hear any speaker questioning our........

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