- December 18, 2025
- 4:16 pm
- Israel, Ukraine
In April-May 1948, Vasily Tarasenko led the Ukrainian SSR delegation at the special session of the UN General Assembly on the “Palestinian problem.” At this session, he played a decisive role in the creation of the State of Israel.
He is rightfully considered the creator of the State of Israel.
Ben-Gurion, through Moshe Sharett in a telephone conversation with him on the night of May 14-15, 1948 (on May 14, the independence of the State of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv), conveyed to the Ukrainian diplomat his personal gratitude and that of the Israeli government for his speech at the session of the UN General Assembly, which played a significant role in Israel’s fate.
Moreover, Ben-Gurion instructed Moshe Sharett to obtain Tarasenko’s consent to award him the title of honorary citizen of Israel. As Moshe Sharett noted at the time, this would have been the first case of granting honorary citizenship to a representative of a foreign state. However, after discussing with Tarasenko the inevitable and quite predictable consequences for him personally and his family at that time, they decided it would be wise to refrain from such a step.
How it happened
Vasyl Yakymovych Tarasenko was the head of the Ukrainian delegation at the extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly and played a decisive role in the vote on the creation of the State of Israel in May 1948.
According to Tarasenko himself, the attitude towards the idea of a Jewish state in the Soviet delegation was lukewarm, but there was a directive from Stalin to vote for the creation of Israel, and disobeying the “master” was unthinkable, despite dissatisfaction. Stalin supported the creation of a Jewish state, counting on several factors, including the hope for the socialist orientation of this country and the desire to weaken Britain’s position in the Middle East with its vast oil reserves.
As is known, the interests of the USSR and the USA coincided on this issue, so on November 29, 1947, two resolutions were submitted to the UN General Assembly:
one — British — on the creation of a single state of Palestine, where Jews would become a national minority (contrary to the famous Balfour Declaration, which the British government had “forgotten” by then),
and the other — Soviet-American — on the partition of Palestine into two independent states, Jewish and Arab.
The adoption of the second resolution was far from obvious, many countries were doubtful, the Arabs were categorically against it, and mobilizing a majority was difficult. The Americans had to specially bring representatives from the Philippines and Paraguay to the meeting, looking expressively into the eyes of the Philippine representative. In the end, two-thirds of the votes were gathered: 33 for the partition of Palestine, 13 against, 10 abstained.
And then the most interesting part began. The General Assembly decided that the adopted resolution would remain in force only if no other decision was made at the next session, scheduled for May 14, 1948, the day the British mandate ended. The repeat vote was to take place no later than 18:00.
Meanwhile, the “Cold War” and the arms race began, and by May 1948, the USA had changed its position 180 degrees, deciding to support Britain, whose influence seemed less dangerous than the growing influence of the Soviet Union. Thus, by May 14, 40 countries were against the partition of Palestine, and only the USSR, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia were “for” it.
However, when the USA decided to support the British project, it seemed that the majority would vote for a united state.
The fate of Palestine was finally decided on May 14, 1948.
Everyone thought the vote was already predetermined.
Only 6 states were ready to vote for the USSR’s proposal. The final decision was to be made by 18:00 on May 14, 1948.
If the vote did not take place for any reason, the previous decision would come into force: the creation of two states — Arab and Jewish — on the territory of mandated Palestine.
20 minutes before the end of the session, the chairman, the representative of Argentina, interrupted the speech of the head of the Soviet delegation Andrei Gromyko and announced the start of voting on the resolution proposed by Britain.
Unexpectedly, bypassing all rules and regulations, the representative of Ukraine Vasyl Tarasenko, whose speech was not scheduled on the agenda, ran to the podium, shouting something in English. “I want to state my point of you,” he declared to the chairman, mistakenly using “point of you” instead of “point of view.”
The chairman, seeing a threat in the statement, ran out of the hall for the police, and Tarasenko began his speech. Delegates poorly understood his English and did not immediately realize that the Ukrainian diplomat was stalling for time. At the beginning of the seventh hour, Chairman Arce returned with the police and, looking at the clock, realized that putting the Palestine issue to a vote was impossible, as voting after 18:00 would be illegal.
When Arce was about to close the session, the head of the US delegation, General Osborne, requested the floor. He asked to continue the session to contact US President Harry Truman to discuss the situation. General Osborne’s proposal was accepted.
“Approximately 1.5-2 hours later,” Tarasenko recalls, “Osborne reported that the USA had revised its position on the Palestinian issue and agreed with the decision to create two independent states on the territory of Palestine: Jewish and Arab.”
Why then was Vasily Tarasenko not removed from the UN podium? Why did the shocked Dr. Arce run away? Why did those present, as if hypnotized, listen to his speech for half an hour and not demand a vote? Why did everyone literally freeze for half an hour? What force paralyzed them? And what force lifted Tarasenko himself from his seat and helped him accomplish what seemed impossible? He admitted that he could not explain it himself. Perhaps it was that very “ordinary miracle,” which, as a rule, is performed by only one force — the highest. The restoration of the State of Israel, as Eli Lichtenstein writes, is one of such miracles.
Two months before the end of his term, Vasily Tarasenko was sent on leave, and he did not return to America, being removed from work “for an active pro-Israel position and Ukrainian separatism.” For his pro-Israel position, he was personally scolded by Khrushchev: “What the hell did you climb onto the podium for?! Let Gromyko speak, but no, they found you — a fool.” Tarasenko naively replied that he did it on his own initiative, to which Khrushchev waved his hand and said: “The worse for you.”
However, no serious sanctions followed. Tarasenko returned to Kyiv and headed the Department of History of Foreign Countries at the university, where he remained in this position until 1982. He lost the department after speaking out against bribery. He lectured in Ukrainian, which at that time did not cause accusations of Bandera-ism.
He headed the public fund “Ukraine — Israel,” received letters from Benjamin Netanyahu and David Levy, the Israeli Minister of Internal Affairs in the 1990s. On the 50th anniversary of Israel, he visited Israel with his son and daughter, was impressed by what he saw, and hoped that Ukraine could repeat the “Israeli miracle.”
He died on March 22, 2001. He is buried at the Baikove Cemetery in the capital of Ukraine.
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