May 11 1949 – 12 Iyar 5709
The State of Israel was accepted as a member of the United Nations Organization. Israel’s relations with the international organization have long been turbulent, beginning well before the state was established with the Peel Commission and the vote on partition of Mandate Palestine on November 29 1947. That vote agreed to divide the area into two separate Jewish and Arab states – resulting in the Arab attacks on the State of Israel as soon as it declared independence on May 14 1948. The State of Israel only became a member of the United Nations a year later, when it became clear that the young state was not about to be wiped off the map. As Israel’s prime minister, Ben Gurion either ignored the international organization’s decisions or sneered at them, calling it Um Shmum (after its Hebrew initials) in a famous cabinet meeting put-down that quickly became a common Hebrew expression.