“Check the Map”: Gideon Sa’ar Brandishes British Mandate Data at UN t – JP
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar confronted British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper head-on during a high-level UN Security Council session on the Middle East, chaired by the UK under its rotating presidency.
Sa’ar waved a historical map of the British Mandate for Palestine and directly invoked Britain’s own Balfour Declaration and Winston Churchill’s legacy to dismantle criticisms of Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper opened the session by condemning Israeli administrative changes in the Judea and Samaria, settlement expansion, and alleged “settler violence,” warning that such moves “threaten the viability of a Palestinian state” and violate international law.
Sa’ar fired back without hesitation. Holding up the British Mandate map, he declared:
“This is the map of the Balfour Declaration of the British Mandate. Here is Judea and Samaria, some of you call it the West Bank.”
He continued by quoting the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which supported a Jewish national home in the land, and Churchill’s 1921 statement during a visit to Palestine:
“It is manifestly right that the Jews should have a National Home. And where else could that be but in this land… with which for more than 3,000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated.”
Then came the killer question aimed squarely at Cooper:
“Madame President, what have you left of the lofty historical tradition of Balfour and Churchill?”.
Sa’ar accused the West, and Britain in particular, of a “hypocritical obsession” with Jewish life in Judea and Samaria:
“The claim that Israelis cannot live in Judea and Samaria isn’t just inconsistent with international law and Britain’s own Balfour Declaration. It is also morally distorted. How can Jews be allowed to live in London or Paris or New York, but not in the cradle of our own civilization: Ancient Jerusalem, which you call East Jerusalem, Shiloh, Hebron and Beth-El?”.
He added pointedly: “Israel will not apologize for living in the cradle of its civilization.”
Sa’ar also mocked Russia’s envoy for lecturing on international law and occupation, saying he “could not help but laugh” given Moscow’s own record.
Israeli officials framed Sa’ar’s speech as a defense of historical truth and Jewish rights, rooted in Britain’s own promises from a century ago.
Sa’ar’s unapologetic performance has electrified pro-Israel voices and left the UK on the defensive in the international arena, a rare public diplomatic reversal at the UN podium.
The full transcript of Sa’ar’s remarks is available on Israel’s Foreign Ministry website, ensuring the world hears the message loud and clear.