Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan was elected on Tuesday to serve as Vice President of the 77th UN General Assembly for the coming year, despite opposition from Iran and Syria.
“This is an important achievement for Israel, which will enable me to influence the UN agenda, to continue to fight discrimination against us [Israel] and to strengthen our position in the UN,” Erdan stated.
“Israel has achieved a number of important achievements at the UN in recent years and I am proud of that,” he added.
A year ago, Israel was elected for the first time to serve as a member of the UN Economic and Social Council, and Israeli Odelia Fitoussi was elected to serve in the UN Committee of Experts on Disability a year before that.
Veteran diplomat Csaba Kőrösi of Hungary was elected President of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.
Other countries elected as Vice Presidents of the 77th UN General Assembly are Benin, Burundi, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, Nepal, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Chile, El Salvador, Jamaica, Estonia, Vietnam, and Australia.
