Israel and the West must stop trying to reform the UN and build something new instead - opinion

David M. Weinberg argues the UN is beyond reform, describing it as a 'cesspool of antisemitism' with a sprawling anti-Israel machinery. He contends that democratic states fund institutions used against them, and calls for building new alternatives rather than attempting to fix the existing system.

David M. Weinberg argues that the United Nations is beyond reform and that Israel and Western democracies should build new international institutions instead. He describes the UN as a 'cesspool of antisemitism and anti-Zionism,' pointing to an upcoming General Assembly event marking the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Durban conference, which he calls a 'hatefest.' Weinberg cites a new report by the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy, which maps over 30 UN bodies, mechanisms, and special procedures that form an 'anti-Israel ecosystem.' He argues these structures generate legal theories, corporate blacklists, and arms-embargo campaigns that could later be used against other democracies. Weinberg notes that in 2024, the US, Germany, UK, Japan, Canada, and France provided 60% of direct government contributions to the UN system, with the US alone contributing more than 183 other member states combined. He criticizes continued funding for UNRWA, the Human Rights Council, and the ICC, and mentions recent Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis that he says world leaders ignored. The framing relies on emotionally charged vocabulary ('cesspool,' 'rancid,' 'monstrous movement') and presents the UN as irredeemably hostile, with no acknowledgment of alternative perspectives on its functions.