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 connection to the land of Israel or our right to a secure national homeland.

The Israeli government’s representative, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, stood out from the rest. Sa’ar delivered a speech in which he expressed opposition to the two-state solution and one that does not recognize the historical connection of Palestinians to the land. I thought to myself how sad and ironic it is that the only entities in the world that share this position of the Israeli government are our enemies: Iran, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah.

Sa’ar delivered a classic hasbara speech, one that I know by heart from my years in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Sa’ar’s speech, while appealing to the Likud base, provokes animosity or derision within the international community. He spoke at length about the Jewish connection to Judea and Samaria, while none of the people in the room disputed this connection.

Contrary to what we are told, except for some misguided non-governmental organizations, no serious entity doubts that the Jewish people have a connection to the land of Israel, including territory that is occupied under international law. 

Just as they understand that the Palestinians have a close historical connection to many cities in Israel, but they do not claim that Israel has to relinquish sovereignty over those cities.

Only Netanyahu’s government, the Ayatollah regime in Iran, and the jihadists take the position that only one side has a connection and rights to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. All Arab countries recognized Israel’s land rights in the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, and of course, European countries, Latin America, Africa, and Asia support this, as reflected in dozens of UN resolutions since 181, 242, and 338.

All the Arab countries that spoke during the Security Council discussion I participated in, including the representative of the Palestinian Authority, share the same goals as Israel: the disarmament of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations. Not because they are Zionists, but because terrorism also threatens them and they want stability and prosperity that cannot be achieved through endless wars. 

Contrary to what the right-wing propagandists have been selling us for many years, that the whole world is supposedly against us and that we must live by the sword, the reality is the opposite. As someone who knows almost all the foreign ambassadors to Israel, I am closely aware of how much they appreciate the state of Israel and how important our security is to them. However, like me, they believe that the ongoing occupation endangers the future of the Zionist vision for the democratic nation-state of the Jewish people, and they believe that if we wisely use strategic diplomacy, we can achieve much more for our security than through only military and propagandistic means.

It is important to understand that we have countless friends and partners in the international community, and when we free ourselves from the grip of the far-right on Israeli politics, our international standing will soar, and we will finally be able to harness the amazing potential of our civil society and private sector.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)