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Sofia Ahmed
By Sofia Ahmed April 24, 2024

Israel did not ‘accidentally vote for Palestine’ at a United Nations meeting

If Your Time is short

  • The full video shows Brazil’s United Nations ambassador, Sérgio França Danese, accidentally listing Israel as a country that sponsored an Oct. 16, 2023, draft resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. Danese corrected himself, saying "Israel is not part of the list."

  • Only U.N. member states can vote for Security Council resolutions. Israel has never been elected as a member to the Security Council. 

A misleading video circulating online appears to show Israel voting in favor of support for Palestine. 

A video shared multiple times on TikTok includes text that read, "Israel accidentally voted (for) Palestine." 

In the clip shared on social media, Brazil’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sérgio França Danese, reads the following country names: "Belarus, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan." Danese pauses and glances around after saying Israel’s name. 

The same video was posted on Instagram with the caption, "Israel votes for Palestine in a meeting of United Nations Security Council!" The video’s caption was later corrected after fact checkers noted it contained false information. 

The clip shared on TikTok shows a U.N. Security Council meeting on Oct. 16, 2023, during which council members voted on a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The resolution did not pass. 

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In the full video, Danese did list Israel as one of the countries that submitted the draft resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza. But he immediately corrected himself, saying "Israel is not part of that list." His correction is not shown in the abbreviated clip on TikTok.

Featured Fact-check

@politifact Replying to @dancinguzi Israel didn't "accidentally vote for Palestine" at a United Nations Security Council meeting. The full video shows Brazil’s U.N. ambassador correcting himself after he accidentally listed Israel as a country sponsoring an Oct. 16, 2023, draft resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. #un #factcheck #fyp #learnontiktok ♬ drowning (slowed + reverb) - Vague003

The U.N. Digital Library shows that Israel was not one of the countries that sponsored the Oct. 16 resolution for a ceasefire.  

The U.N. Security Council is made up of 10 nonpermanent countries elected for two years and five permanent members. Israel has never been elected as a member of the U.N. Security Council, and therefore cannot vote on Security Council resolutions. 

We rate the claim that Israel "accidentally voted (for) Palestine" at a United Nations Security Council meeting False.

Our Sources

TikTok post (archived), Feb. 7, 2024

Instagram post (archived), Jan. 28, 2024

TikTok post, Oct. 18, 2023

TikTok post, Feb. 7, 2024

TikTok post, Jan. 29, 2024

United Nations News, Security Council rejects Russian resolution on Gaza, Oct. 16, 2023

YouTube, Security Council rejects Russian resolution on Gaza - Security Council | United Nations (full), Oct. 16, 2023

United Nations Digital Library, Draft resolution, Oct. 16, 2023

United Nations Security Council, Voting System, accessed April 23, 2024

United Nations Security Council, Current Members, accessed April 23, 2024

United Nations Security Council, Countries Never Elected Members of the Security Council, accessed April 23, 2024

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Israel did not ‘accidentally vote for Palestine’ at a United Nations meeting

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