Um-Shmum

Um-Shmum (Hebrew: או"ם שמום‬, where um is the Hebrew acronymic pronunciation for "U.N.",[1] and the "shm"-prefix signifies dismissal, contempt or irony) is a phrase coined by the Israeli Minister of Defense (and former Prime Minister) David Ben-Gurion on 29 March 1955 during a debate within the Israeli cabinet regarding his plan to take the Gaza Strip from Egypt in response to the increasing fedayeen terror attacks. This utterance towards the United Nations is an expression that reflects, even as to date, the way many Israelis feel about the institution.

The original expression was uttered as a response to Prime Minister Moshe Sharett, who had stated in the previous cabinet session that if it hadn't been for the UN resolution of 1947, the State of Israel would not have been founded. According to Sharett's account in his diary, Ben-Gurion shouted: "Not at all! Only the daring of the Jews founded this country, and not some Um-Shmum resolution."[2]

In 1998, Kofi Annan quoted this phrase while visiting the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) and made a rebutting pun himself by saying that in the world that we live in today, "without the UM we will all have klum" (klum is part of expressions that mean "nothing" in Hebrew).[3][4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ או"ם‬ pronounced "oom", acronym for אומות‬ (pr. "oomot") "nations, peoples", and מאוחדות‬ (pr. "m'ookhadot") "united"; "the U.N." is האומות המאוחדות‬ (pronounced "ha-oomot ha-m'ookhadot").
  2. ↑ Moshe Sharett, Yoman ishi [=Personal Diary], vol. 3, Tel-Aviv: Sifriyat Ma'ariv, 1978, p. 874 (Hebrew).
  3. ↑ כלום‬ (pronounced kloom).
  4. ↑ Full Transcript: Netanyahu's 2011 UN Speech, MWC News Website.
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