Israel’s international spokesperson to the UN shares insights on Oct. 7, Iran

Working for Israel in the United Nations has always been a challenge, Jonathan Harounoff said.

Harounoff is the Jewish state’s international spokesperson to the U.N., an award-winning journalist and author of the book “Unveiled: Inside Iran’s #WomanLifeFreedom Revolt.”

“Especially since Oct. 7, when there was such and a disgraceful minimization and lack of focus on what happened and a hyperintense focus on all ‘evils’ that Israel is doing,” he said. “It’s been quite disgraceful.”

Get The Jewish Chronicle Weekly Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

Both the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly, he said, have offered discussions and resolutions centered on Israel’s actions and have not formally condemned Hamas or worked for the release of the hostages.

“We see a very clear lack of U.N. work there, which is what we’ve been doing for the past year, elevating those voices,” he said. “We’ve invited recently released hostages and families of hostages still held to the U.N. because the U.N. never came to them in their time of need.”

Harounoff oversees all the media that comes in and out of U.N. involving Israel. He interacts with journalists from around the globe and strives to ensure Israel’s narrative is fairly reflected in the press.

Right now, he said, that message involves Israel’s war with Hamas, its fight to keep Iran from securing a nuclear weapon and the plight of the 50 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

Harounoff spoke to the Chronicle several days after the U.S. bombed sites believed to be connected to Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. The U.S. action, he said, prompted a swift response from the U.N. — but not the correct response.

“The U.N. secretary general and some member states of the Security Council condemned the U.S. for what they did, condemned Israel for Operation Rising Lion,” he said. “Instead, those condemnations should have been messages of thanks that the United States stepped up and took on the most existential and dangerous regime from getting their hands on the most dangerous weapon in the world.”

That response, he said, is part of a pattern and typical of past U.N. reactions: messages of condemnation and appeals for restraint while Iran negotiates with one foot out the door, all the while continuing to build nuclear weapons.

The danger, he said, was too imminent and real for the U.S not to act.

“We’re talking about an existential threat to Israel and very, very credible and dangerous threats to the United States and its military bases across the U.S.,” he said.

Israel, Harounoff said, is supportive of the actions the U.S. took and appreciates the work of President Donald Trump and his administration.

“We were shocked we haven’t seen that message of thanks coming from the U.N.,” he said.

While there has been speculation about regime change in Iran, Harounoff said that has never been the focus of Israel. Instead, he said, the sole objective of the Jewish state was to eliminate the existential threat created by Iran, its nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles.

If there is to be a change in Iran’s leadership, he said, it will come from the Iranian citizens who have suffered under its control.

“In the Islamic Republic’s 46-year history, the people have been sick and tired of their government that cares so much about investing hundreds of millions of dollars in creating dangerous foreign policy, a nuclear program, proxy forces and very little in way of improving the social and economic lives of everyday Iranians,” he said.

The dream, Harounoff said, is that there can be a shift to a peaceful, stable Middle East where Israel doesn’t constantly face existential threats.

He’s not sure that will happen but said the strategy of peace through strength has already delivered more than previous attempts at appeasement.

“If you continue the same approach and expect different results, that’s on you,” he said. “I hope we return to a time when there is more peace and stability, but Israel cannot be blasé or not have its defense up, because it has too many enemies out there.”

He called the rise of antisemitism since Oct. 7 “disheartening,” especially in Pittsburgh where 11 Jews were murdered in the Tree of Life building in 2018.

The reaction on college campuses and in liberal communities, he said, has been shocking.

“As an alum of Columbia and Harvard, it was extremely distressing and really sad to see the universities deteriorate so much and not defend and protect its Jewish and Israeli students,” he said.

Harounoff’s book about Iran will be published Sept. 25, 2025. In it, he interviewed individuals who have fled Iran and are key opposition voices in the diaspora.

“They talk about this specific movement, its successes, its failures, its origins and, more broadly, the history of uprisings, and it imagines a future we could see in Iran,” he said.

The last part, he said, is especially relevant today.

“It all boils down to the people of Iran and what they decide their future will look like,” he said. “What they want from the outside world is support. They don’t want nations to keep propping up the Islamic Republic so it can continue to do harm abroad and domestically.” PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.