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What Can the U.N. Do Now?

The president of the General Assembly talks about the organization's possible next steps in the Israel-Hamas war.

By , a journalist reporting from the United Nations in New York.
U.N. General Assembly President Dennis Francis reads aloud from a laptop screen while sitting at a podium desk in the U.N. meeting chamber. Francis, a middle-aged man wearing a blue suit, is also visible on a video screen hung on the wall next to a large United Nations logo.
U.N. General Assembly President Dennis Francis reads aloud from a laptop screen while sitting at a podium desk in the U.N. meeting chamber. Francis, a middle-aged man wearing a blue suit, is also visible on a video screen hung on the wall next to a large United Nations logo.
U.N. General Assembly President Dennis Francis reads the results of an election of new members to the Human Rights Council at the U.N. headquarters in New York City on Oct. 10. Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images

Israel-Hamas War

News, analysis, and background on the ongoing conflict.

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When Foreign Policy sat down with the new president of the United Nations General Assembly, the surprise attack by Hamas on Israel five days earlier and its ramifications had shaken the institution to its core. Yet amid the gloom, General Assembly President Dennis Francis was an island of tranquility. A seasoned diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago, he is the first from his country to become the president of the 193-member assembly that is at the heart of the U.N. system.

J. Alex Tarquinio is a resident correspondent at the United Nations in New York, a recipient of a German Marshall Fund journalism fellowship, and a past national president of the Society of Professional Journalists. Twitter: @alextarquinio

Read More On Gaza | Israel | Palestine | United Nations | War

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