Yehuda Zvi Blum ( he, יהודה צבי בלום; born 2 October 1931) is an Israeli professor of law and diplomat who served as

Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations The Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations is the de facto Israel Ambassador to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. Office holders Permanent Mission of Israel to the ...

from 1978 to 1984.

Biography

Yehuda Z. Blum was born in Bratislava,

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in 1931, and observed his bar-mitzvah in the

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentrati ...

concentration camp. He immigrated to British Mandate for Palestine in 1945. Blum earned his law degree from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. His doctoral thesis, in 1961, was o
Historic titles in international law.
ref>

Law career

Blum joined the faculty of

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

in 1965 and until retiring in 2001 occupied the

Hersch Lauterpacht Sir Hersch Lauterpacht (16 August 1897 – 8 May 1960) was a British international lawyer, human rights activist, and judge at the International Court of Justice. Biography Hersh Lauterpacht was born on 16 August 1897 to a Jewish family in t ...

Chair in

International Law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

there. He has served as a senior research scholar at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, and visiting professor in the law schools of the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

, the USC Gould School of Law, and others. In 1968 he served as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Fellow at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

in Australia. He has written several books and published many scholarly articles on international legal problems in law journals in English, Hebrew and German. He is currently the law editor of the '' Encyclopaedia Hebraica.''

Diplomatic career

In 1968, Blum worked for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Office of Legal Counsel. He was a member of Israeli delegation to 3rd

UN Conference on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an Treaty, international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. ...

in 1973. In 1976 he was part of the Israeli delegation to the 31st session of

UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Cur ...

. He served as Ambassador and

for six years, from 1978 to 1984. He was a member of the Israeli negotiating team that drafted the peace treaty with Egypt ( Camp David Accords) in 1978, the

Blair House Blair House, also known as The President's Guest House, is an official residence in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The President's Guest House has been called "the world's most exclusive hotel" because it is primarily used ...

negotiations in March 1979 and the Israeli legal team at the Taba arbitration talks between Israel and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

between 1986 and 1988. As the Ambassador to the United Nations, Blum was often critical of it, saying that the UN "fans the flames of the Middle East conflict." ''The New York Times'' quoted him as saying that "The essence of the Middle East conflict has always been and remains the persistent enmity of

Arab states The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western As ...

towards the Jewish national renaissance." "For decades now, Arab leaders have obstinately maintained that the whole region from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

must be exclusively Arab, he said." As UN envoy, he made headlines for "scolding" a group of 133 American Jewish law students protesting Israel's invasion of

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

and protesting Jewish settlements in

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and Gaza. He questioned the factual, as well as the moral position, of the students' view, saying that they "have not given the slightest indication of their willingness to bear any personal consequences of their patronizing and fortuitous advice."

Published works

*''Historic Titles in International Law'' (1965) *''Secure Boundaries and Middle East Peace'' (1971) (with an introduction by

Julius Stone Julius Stone (7 July 1907 – 1985) was Challis Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law at the University of Sydney from 1942 to 1972, and thereafter a visiting Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales and concurrently Dist ...

) *''For Zion's Sake'' (1987) *''Eroding the United Nations Charter'' (1993)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Yehuda International law scholars Israeli legal scholars Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty Alumni of the University of London 1931 births Jurisprudence academics Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors Living people Slovak Jews Czechoslovak emigrants to Mandatory Palestine