2021 video of U.N.G.A. session shared as Israel ‘being summoned for human rights violations’

With no immediate end in sight for the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, recent developments at the United Nations in connection to the conflict have received widespread attention. On October 18, 2023, the U.S. vetoed a U.N. resolution calling for "humanitarian pauses" to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza, "saying it was too early to craft an appropriate Security Council response to the crisis." On October 17, the Associated Press reported that the U.N. Security Council rejected a Russian resolution that condemned violence and terrorism against civilians and had called for a ceasefire in Gaza but failed to mention any extremist group. 

What's the claim?

Amid this, a clip showing a person tearing a document has gone viral on social media. The person in the clip says, "This report, and it should have no place in any body concerned with human rights, security or peace. Its only place is in the dustbin of antisemitism, and that is exactly how we shall treat it." Social media users have alleged that the video shows Israel being summoned by the U.N. for violating human rights and that the Israeli representative destroyed the report.  

An X (formerly Twitter) user wrote in Hindi, "Israel was summoned to the United Nations for violating human rights and was given a 20-page report. The representative of Israel came on stage for 2 minutes and tore down the chargesheet…" Making a similar claim in Hindi, Suresh Chavhanke, Editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News, an Indian right-wing news channel, also added, "...terrorists don't have any human rights…if the whole world stands up against Jihadis in this way, then they will be wiped from Earth.."

A Facebook user captioned the video, "Israel was summoned for violation of Human Rights in U.N...!!" The archived versions of the posts can be accessed here and here.

Screenshot of claim circulating online (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

What are the facts?

Using reverse image search, we found an extended version of the clip published on the X account of Gilad Erdan, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations. On October 30, 2021, Erdan posted the video in an X thread that started with, "Today, I addressed the @UN General Assembly and spoke out against the baseless, one-sided, and outright false accusations from the Human Rights Council's annual report."

He says in the video, "It was on this stage, at this very body, that the very right of the Jewish people to have a national home was itself declared to be racist. A decision that was justly overturned. A decision that Israel's ambassador at the time, Chaim Herzog, tore up before the United Nations. And this is exactly what should be done to this antisemitic, distorted, one-sided report. For just as that 1975 resolution, equating Zionism with racism was itself a gross form of anti-Jewish racism, which has no place in this international body, so too, the Human Rights Council's obsessive anti-Israel bias, embodied, once again, by this report, and it should have no place in any body concerned with human rights, security or peace. Its only place is in the dustbin of antisemitism, and that is exactly how we shall treat it." From 1:05 onwards, we can see the part of the video seen in the viral clip.

Gilad Erdan shared the video on X in October 2021. (Source: X/Screenshot)

Times of Israel published an article on October 30, 2021, and shared an image of Erdan on the podium, which matches the viral video clip. The report said that Erdan criticized the United Nations Human Rights Council on their report on Israel and tore up the organization's annual report while giving a speech onstage. Times of Israel added that Israel accused the council of anti-Israel bias and the U.S., under President Donald Trump, backed them.

On October 30, 2021, a Middle East Monitor report titled "Israel's UN envoy tears up Human Rights Council report" stated that President Michelle Bachelet presented the annual report to all member states during a special hearing of the UNHRC at the General Assembly. The news report by Middle East Monitor carried a screenshot of Gilad Erdan tearing up the report, also seen in the viral video. The UNHRC report condemned and criticized Israel for the brutal attacks and included findings by an investigative committee that after Israel's occupation of Gaza- "260 Palestinians, including 67 children, 40 women, and 16 elderly, were killed," added the news report. 

The verdict

The viral video does not show Israel's envoy tearing up a report after being summoned to the U.N. for the violation of human rights. It instead shows Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, tearing up the annual UNHRC report in 2021, calling it biased. Therefore, we are marking the claim as misleading.