- The UN's General Assembly could act on its own accord to unseat Israel, professor says

- Israel doesn't fulfill the criteria of a state that is willing and able to abide by obligations of a UN member state, says former deputy head of office of the UN human rights agency in occupied Palestine

ISTANBUL

Two years into Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and reduced the besieged enclave to rubble, international law scholars, human rights experts, and former UN officials are increasingly calling for Israel’s removal or suspension from the UN.

While experts acknowledge that Israel’s expulsion remains unlikely due to the US’ veto power in the UN Security Council, many argue that the UN General Assembly has the authority to suspend Israel’s participation, just as it did with apartheid South Africa in 1974.

Saul Takahashi, a former UN official believes that Israel doesn't fulfill the criteria of a state that is willing and able to abide by obligations of a UN member state.

"Israel has shown itself again and again, in particular over the past two years, to be a rogue state," Takahashi, a former deputy head of office of the UN human rights agency in occupied Palestine, told Anadolu.

Why experts say Israel should be unseated

Legal scholars argue that Israel’s conduct, ranging from its ongoing genocide and war crimes in Gaza to its defiance of International Court of Justice (ICJ) rulings and direct attacks on UN personnel, renders it unfit to remain a UN member state.

Law professor Maryam Jamshidi notes that the 2024 ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territories demonstrates how the Israeli government is both illegitimate and unrepresentative.

"As the Court concluded, Israel is unlawfully occupying territory belonging to the Palestinian people and has persistently violated their right to self-determination," Jamshidi said.

She added that Israel continues to defy UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting the annexation of occupied territory and condemning settlement expansion.

“The Israeli government’s violations of the ICJ’s provisional measures orders in the genocide case – along with the many expert opinions concluding that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza – is even more damning evidence in support of unseating Israel,” said Jamshidi, an associate professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School.

“It is, after all, hard to think of a more blatant and egregious violation of a people’s right to self-determination than actions aimed at exterminating them as a group,” she added.

Takahashi, now a senior fellow at the Hashim Sani Centre of Palestine Studies at the University of Malaya, said Israel has shown "complete defiance of the authority of the United Nations, attacking the UN mission on the border with Lebanon, and almost adopting a law designating UNRWA as a terrorist organization... expelling it from the West Bank."

“I believe the only legitimate way at this point to do this is to expel Israel from the organization,” he added.

Can Israel be expelled from the UN?

The UN Charter provides mechanisms to suspend or expel member states. Article 5 allows temporary suspension of membership rights, while Article 6 governs permanent expulsion.

According to Jamshidi, Israel “undoubtedly qualifies” for expulsion, as it has persistently violated the UN Charter. But she noted that the process would require a Security Council recommendation, which the US would certainly veto.

Michael Lynk, former special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestine territory, recalled a similar situation where a resolution went to the Security Council in 1974 when countries from the Global South proposed the expulsion of apartheid South Africa, but was vetoed by France, the UK and US.

“It's kind of difficult to see that happening, of course, at this point in time with the United States always protecting Israel,” Lynk added.

How the UN General Assembly could act

Even without Security Council approval, experts believe the UN General Assembly could suspend Israel from participation by refusing to recognize its delegation’s credentials, using the same mechanism employed against South Africa in 1974.

According to Lynk, the General Assembly at that time used an accreditation procedure that refused to recognize the credentials of apartheid South Africa.

Jamshidi elaborated that under Rule 29 of the General Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, members can challenge a state’s credentials, forcing the Credentials Committee to issue a report for the assembly’s consideration.

Once that report is issued, the assembly formally votes on whether to seat the delegation.

“Using this procedure, the General Assembly could unseat the Israeli delegation from the UN session.”

Following South Africa’s precedent

Experts said that the 1974 suspension of apartheid South Africa offers a striking historical parallel.

“As Israel has done with the Palestinians, apartheid South Africa denied Black South Africans their right to self-determination by depriving them of political and civil rights and effectively removing them from white South African society, including by creating ‘bantustans,’ which have since served as a model for Israel’s segregation and repression of the Palestinians in the West Bank,” said Jamshidi.

Takahashi recalled that South Africa’s exclusion from the General Assembly represented a “grave international isolation.”

“South Africa was subject to a wide range of economic sanctions from many countries, arms embargoes. They were boycotted by international sporting events,” he said.

He agreed that international isolation proved pivotal in ending apartheid. "I believe that's really what has to happen now with the state of Israel, a country practicing apartheid openly, and also illegally occupying another country, and thumbing its nose at UN resolutions and UN bodies and basically ignoring all their demands and their recommendations."

A shifting tide

Experts now sense growing momentum in the Global South for measures to hold Israel accountable.

Lynk said that there will be stronger resolutions proposed, debated, and adopted by the General Assembly that will call for specific international steps to match Israel's defiance.

"If it then turns out that this time next year, the occupation continues, indeed the occupation deepens, then I think we are at a fracture point for the UN and the UN General Assembly, likely with support of almost all of the Global South, will probably then make a proposal to refuse Israel's credentials," he said.

According to Takashi, "countries are talking about that for sure, expelling Israel from the United Nations, or at least suspending them, excluding them from the General Assembly."

Both Israeli and American officials are aware of this prospect and he expressed hope that countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and others in the Hague Group step up to unseat Israel, he added.

Experts argue that removing Israel from the UN would not lead to less accountability.

"It in itself is already a very strong message and a method of accountability," said Takahashi.

"I certainly hope that it would lead to more sanctions by the international community … countries can levy sanctions on Israel anytime. They can do this tomorrow."