by Eli Leon, Shlomo Cesana and Reuters
U.N. spokesman: Report does not reflect views of U.N. chief
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
Nikki Haley
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Photo credit: Reuters  |
On the heels of U.S. President Donald Trump's
efforts to combat anti-Semitism, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Nikki Haley on Wednesday demanded that U.N. Secretary General Antonio
Guterres withdraw a report compiled by one of the body's agencies that
accuses Israel of imposing an apartheid regime on Palestinians.
Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman likened
the report, which was published by the U.N. Economic and Social
Commission for Western Asia to Der Sturmer, the strongly anti-Semitic
Nazi propaganda newspaper.
The report concluded that "Israel has
established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as
a whole." The accusation has been fiercely rejected by Israel.
U.N. Undersecretary General and ESCWA
Executive Secretary Rima Khalaf said the report was the "first of its
type" from a U.N. body that "clearly and frankly concludes that Israel
is a racist state that has established an apartheid system that
persecutes the Palestinian people."
ESCWA comprises 18 Arab states in western Asia
and aims to support economic and social development in member states,
according to its website. The report was prepared at the request of
member states, Khalaf said.
The report calls on the International Criminal Court to intervene.
The report was authored by Richard Falk, a
former U.N. human rights investigator for the Palestinian territories,
and Virginia Tilley, professor of political science at Southern Illinois
University. In the past, the United States has accused Falk of being
biased against Israel, and he was also banned from entering Israel.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel
Nahshon commented on Twitter that the report had not been endorsed by
the U.N. secretary general.
"The attempt to smear and falsely label the
only true democracy in the Middle East by creating a false analogy is
despicable and constitutes a blatant lie," Israel's Ambassador to the
U.N. Danny Danon said in a statement.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told
reporters in New York that the report was published without any prior
consultation with the U.N. secretariat.
"The report as it stands does not reflect the
views of the secretary general [Guterres]," Dujarric said. He added that
the report itself notes that it reflects the views of the authors.
Haley issued a statement condemning the
report, saying, "The United Nations secretariat was right to distance
itself from this report, but it must go further and withdraw the report
altogether.
"That it was drafted by Richard Falk, a man
who has repeatedly made biased and deeply offensive comments about
Israel and espoused ridiculous conspiracy theories, including about the
9/11 terrorist attacks, is equally unsurprising. The United States
stands with our ally Israel and will continue to oppose biased and
anti-Israel actions across the U.N. system and around the world."
In Israel, Yesh Atid Chairman MK Yair Lapid
said the report "is dripping with hate and anti-Semitism. Instead of
defending freedom, democracy and liberal values, the U.N. and its
agencies are assisting terrorist organizations. Does it make any sense
to anyone that the U.N., which includes member states Syria and Sudan,
should preach to Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, which
upholds minority rights and provides humanitarian assistance to its
enemies? The U.S. and Europe need to make it very clear that they will
withhold support for the U.N. and its agencies as long as they continue
to incite against Israel."
Eli Leon, Shlomo Cesana and Reuters
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=41117
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Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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