The hegemony of the United States and its allies has been blamed for weakening the United Nations’ system amid the UN’s failure to hold Israel accountable for the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza – and now Lebanon – despite resolutions and court advisories.
Analysts said the UN is losing its political influence, making the case for reforms of its system more urgent, as seen in fresh calls made this week by several states and world leaders.
Saudi Arabia and Algeria were among the countries that highlighted the world organization’s need for reforms during a high-level meeting of global leaders for the UN General Assembly in New York.
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In his address to the UN, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar whose country has been a mediator in Israel-Hamas cease-fire negotiations, described the “blatant aggression” against Palestinians in Gaza as the “most barbaric, heinous, and extensive” breach of human values, international charters, and norms.
“With all that has taken place and continues to be take place, it is no longer tenable to speak of Israel’s right to defend itself in this context without being complicit in justifying the crime,” the Qatar leader said.
In his speech at the UN on Sept 23, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud warned that the international institutions were “unfit for purpose,” as demonstrated by the UN’s inability to hold Israel accountable for “all the atrocities it has committed,” according to a report by Arab News.
The prince spoke a day after UN member states voted to adopt the “Pact for the Future,” a campaign to bring multilateralism “back from the brink” garner support for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Saudi foreign minister also urged the international community to promote multilateralism to effectively. He also said the UN must be reformed to shoulder its responsibility in upholding international peace and security.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf called out the “imbalance” as a source of “very serious tension, upheaval, all of which are thwarting international relations”. He also claimed that the UN was marginalizing African States in the UN Security Council.
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Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the UN for its inaction in Gaza and slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for dragging the Middle East region deeper into war. He appealed to the international community to stop Netanyahu “and his murder network,” likening the Israeli leader to Adolf Hitler.
Erdogan also said it was not only children who are dying in Gaza, but the UN system “is also dying”, as well as the truth, the values that “the West claims to defend”, and “the hopes of humanity to live in a fairer world”.
Erdogan also vented his frustration over the cease-fire negotiations that have been "going back and forth" since May.
He noted that despite the fact that the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, has repeatedly declared its acceptance of the proposal, it was the Israeli government that has "very clearly indicated that it is the party that does not want peace.
He accused Israel of continuously hampering the process, pointing out the “killing the interlocutor it negotiated with at a time when the cease-fire was closest”, Turkish state-media Anadolu Agency reported.
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"There should be no more credit given to Israel's distraction and deception moves," he was quoted as saying by the news agency.
George Gerapetritis, the minister of foreign affairs of Greece, told Reuters in an interview that it seemed that there was no effective pressure being brought on Israel.
"We have not prevented the spillover, and the more dispersed the war becomes, the more the situation becomes more complicated to be solved," he was quoted as saying by Reuters, adding that Lebanon “could easily be a zone of tremendous hostility, and this is something that we cannot deal with. It's a clear minefield”.
Greece had been elected as a member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) from 2025 to 2026 earlier this year and believes its historical ties with the Arabs and Israel make it a credible player to act as a peace broker.
Dina Yulianti Sulaeman, director of the Indonesia Center for Middle East Studies, told China Daily that the “increasingly open statements” of several Arab leaders condemning Israeli violence in Palestine show that they feel they can no longer remain silent “as they have been”.
“The attitude of Arab countries over the past year has shown the world that the United States so hegemonizes them that they are unable to take concrete steps to stop Israel's crimes in Gaza,” said Sulaeman.
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She also said the proposal to reform the UN “is reasonable”, considering that the institution “is not democratic” as decisions of majority of member states can be overturned by just one veto.
“Especially on the issue of Palestine, the US has always sided with Israel and thwarted many international efforts to stop the violence that has occurred. This US attitude is the biggest obstacle to creating peace in the Middle East,” said Sulaeman.
Umer Karim, an associate fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said the deadlock at the UNSC is probably the reason why Arab countries are pushing for the reforms, with the efforts gaining traction particularly due to the support provided by the US to Israel that has allowed Tel Aviv to continue its military campaign in Gaza.
“But these are vague statements; there are neither any concrete demands or any comprehensive proposal from these states with regards to what should be the nature of these reforms,” said Karim.
He said the “UNSC has become a nonfunctional body now where there is seldom any unanimity of views, resulting in a reduction in its political value and impact”.
“In addition to that, the body is not fully representative of the changing global power dynamics. And for all these reasons, change in its make-up is needed.”
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a post on the social media platform X, called the situation in Gaza a “non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it”, and also warned that Lebanon “is at the brink” and “cannot afford to become another Gaza”.
“The international community must mobilize for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and the beginning of an irreversible process towards a two-State solution,” Guterres wrote.
Israeli Prime Minster Bejamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, ridiculed International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan for meeting Turkish leader Erdogan, whom the Israeli leader accused of slaughtering Kurish civilians and jailing journalists, as well as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whom Netanyahu claimed had denied the Holocaust and paid terrorists to murder Jews.
“Rather than issuing arrest warrants for war crimes against Erdogan and Abbas, Khan remains obsessed with casting as war criminals Israel's democratically elected leaders, who are pursuing a just war with just means against genocidal terrorists,” said Netanyahu. “What a joke!” Netanyahu said in a post on his X account.
