Israel did not ‘accidentally (vote for) Palestine’

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. 

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.

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.