Israel's rare victory at the U.N.

Jerusalem Post - For the first time, Israel took a seat on the executive board of the United Nations Development Program, a top UN agencywith a budget of about a billion dollars, according to the Israeli mission in New York.

“This is a milestone in Israel’s integration to the global agenda of the UN,” Israel’s Deputy Permanent Representative Haim Waxman said. “Furthermore, this is the expression of a journey that we have taken from being a developing nation born in adversity to becoming a developed nation, a member of the OECD and now a full member of the UNDP as a representative of the West.”

The UNDP supports a myriad of projects in 177 nations working on health, welfare and women’s empowerment issues. Israel was voted to its executive board as a representative of the Western voting bloc that includes the US, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany and Japan. Its new position on the board will lend it a voice in setting the UNDP’s agenda and deciding on its budget.

Waxman said Israel was proud to be a member of the organization and would use its technological andagricultural knowhow to help developing nations. The Jewish state would make women’s empowerment one of its top priorities, he said.