# Um-Shmum

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Um-Shmum
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Um-Shmum.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Um-Shmum
> Source revision: 1357167623
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Um-Shmum** (Hebrew: או"ם שמום ˈ(ʔ)um ˈʃmum, where *um* is the Hebrew acronymic pronunciation for "[U.N.](/source/U.N.)",[1] and the ["shm"-prefix](/source/Shm-reduplication) signifies dismissal, contempt or irony) is a phrase coined by the Israeli [Minister of Defense](/source/Ministry_of_Defense_(Israel)) (and former [Prime Minister](/source/Prime_Minister_of_Israel)) [David Ben-Gurion](/source/David_Ben-Gurion) on March 29, 1955, during a cabinet debate regarding his plan to take the [Gaza Strip](/source/Gaza_Strip) from [Egypt](/source/Egypt) in response to the increasing [fedayeen](/source/Palestinian_fedayeen) [terror attacks](/source/Terror_attack) on Israel.

The phrase has become part of Hebrew street dialect, expressing the attitude to any international authority.[2]

## History

The original expression was uttered as a response to Prime Minister [Moshe Sharett](/source/Moshe_Sharett), who had stated in the previous cabinet session that if it hadn't been for the [UN resolution of 1947](/source/United_Nations_Partition_Plan_for_Palestine#The_vote), 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."[3][4]

The term expresses contempt for the institutional-political importance of the United Nations, and denotes a feeling among many members of the Israeli public that the UN's policies towards Israel are biased and unfair.[5]

In 1998, [Kofi Annan](/source/Kofi_Annan) quoted this phrase while visiting the [Knesset](/source/Knesset) (Israeli Parliament) and made a rebutting [pun](/source/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).[6][7]

## See also

- [Israel and the United Nations](/source/Israel_and_the_United_Nations)
- [Joe Shmoe](/source/Joe_Shmoe)
- [Culture of Israel](/source/Culture_of_Israel)

## References

1. או"ם pronounced "um", acronym for אומות (pr. "umot") "nations, peoples", and מאוחדות (pr. "m'ukhadot") "united"; "the U.N." is האומות המאוחדות (pronounced "ha-umot ha-m'ukhadot").

1. [Ethos Clash in Israeli society, Eyal Levin](https://books.google.com/books?id=LDXQAgAAQBAJ&dq=umm+shmum&pg=PA106)

1. Moshe Sharett, *Yoman ishi* [=Personal Diary], vol. 3, Tel-Aviv: Sifriyat Ma'ariv, 1978, p. 874 (Hebrew).

1. [The Mortality and Morality of Nations: Jews, Afrikaners, and French-Canadians, Uriel Abulof](https://books.google.com/books?id=ejIZCgAAQBAJ&dq=umm+shmum&pg=PA202)

1. [Who cares about the UN?](https://972mag.com/who-cares-about-the-un/59098/)

1. כלום (pronounced kloom).

1. [Full Transcript: Netanyahu's 2011 UN Speech](http://mwcnews.net/focus/letters-to-editors/13648-netanyahu-un.html), MWC News Website.

## External links

- [Comments on the Situation, Yoel Marcus](https://web.archive.org/web/20210924095827/https://www.haaretz.com/1.4687569), [Haaretz](/source/Haaretz)
- ["Um-Shmum: Seven Hours to Death", 2011 documentary, Gideon Gitai](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2061845/)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Um-Shmum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Um-Shmum) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Um-Shmum?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.