Israel UN ambassador, during meeting on Palestinian statehood, holds up picture of Hitler with Grand Mufti

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Israeli ambassador calls on UN to reject full Palestinian membership to world body

Ambassador Gilad Erdan held up a picture of a meeting between Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini (UNTV.)

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations spoke out forcefully against the notion of Palestinian statehood during a U.N. Security council meeting on Monday, going so far as to suggest that the U.N. had backtracked on its original goal of preventing the spread of Nazi ideology by supporting Palestinian statehood.  

While speaking in the General Assembly, Erdan held up a World War II-era photo of Haj Amin Al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, speaking with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. 

Al-Husseini, whom Erdan described as "one of the founding fathers of Palestinian nationalism," was an enthusiastic Nazi supporter whose anti-Semitism was well documented. The Grand Mufti had pleaded with Hitler for assistance in getting rid of the British Mandate and the Jewish immigrants coming to the Holy Land – requests that were ultimately turned down. 

Gilad Erdan shows a picture of Hitler meeting the Grand Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly on April 8, 2024. (UNTV)

Erdan said the Palestinians’ goal of annihilating the Jews was clear long before the establishment of the U.N. or the State of Israel in the years following World War II. 

"And from then until today, the root of this conflict has not changed. It is not a political conflict or about partitioning land," Erdan said. "It is solely about the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews." 

Erdan accused the U.N. of committing itself to "reinforcing modern-day Nazi Jihadists [by] considering forcing the establishment of a Palestinian terror state." 

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"This won’t be a regular state – it will be a Palesti-Nazi state. An entity that achieved statehood despite being committed to terror and Israel’s annihilation. If Hitler was alive today, he would be singing the U.N.’s praises," he said. 

The U.N. Security Council met Monday to revive the Palestinian Authority's hopes of joining the United Nations as a full member. 

The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Its forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007, and it has no authority there.

Hitler receives the Grand Mufti of Palestine, with whom he speaks about future relations between Germany and the Arabic world, December 12, 1941, Germany - Second World War.  (Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

After years of failed on-and-off peace talks, the Palestinians have turned to the United Nations to fulfill their dream of an independent state. Israel says such steps are an attempt to sidestep the negotiating process. The country’s current right-wing government is dominated by hardliners who adamantly oppose Palestinian statehood.

Supporters of the Palestinians' request for full membership in the United Nations asked the U.N. Security Council last week to revive its application for admission submitted in 2011. 

The Palestinians' fresh bid for U.N. membership comes as the war between Israel and Hamas that began on Oct. 7 nears its sixth month and the unresolved decades-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains in the spotlight after years on the back burner.

The Security Council decided to make a formal decision on Palestinian U.N. membership this month and a committee that weighs membership applications will meet again on Thursday.

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Members of its U.N. delegation reiterated Monday that the Palestinian Authority needs to exert control over all the Palestinian territories and negotiate statehood with Israel before it wins statehood.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.