TEL AVIV – The U.S. slammed the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) over a new report accusing Israel of being an “apartheid regime” that “dominates the Palestinian people as a whole.”
“That such anti-Israel propaganda would come from a body whose membership nearly universally does not recognize Israel is unsurprising,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said in a statement. “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 Nations Secretariat was right to distance itself from this report, but it must go further and withdraw the report altogether,” Haley added. “The United States stands with our ally Israel and will continue to oppose biased and anti-Israel actions across the UN system and around the world.”
Israeli Envoy to the UN Danny Danon said, “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.”
Spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry Emmanuel Nahshon said the ESCWA report was akin to Nazi propaganda.
“Friendly advice — don’t read it without anti-nausea pills,” he tweeted, adding that it was a “Der Stürmer”-like report, referring to the Nazi propaganda publication.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the publication of the report was done without consultation with the UN Secretariat.
“The report as it stands does not reflect the views of the secretary-general (Antonio Guterres),” Dujarric said.
Former Israeli ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman said in a conference call in which Breitbart Jerusalem participated that the report was “shameful” but not surprising from the international body, which he described as a “citadel of hypocrisy.”
“I’m shocked but not surprised the UN,” Gillerman said. “As someone who spent six years there, I was shocked time and time again by the bias, by the prejudice and indeed, by the triple standards of the UN.”
The UN, Gillerman continued, has one standard for democracies, one for totalitarian states and a third standard that is “devoted wholly and solely for Israel.”
Gillerman lambasted the notion of apartheid, saying Arabs have far more freedoms in Israel than even Arab states.
“Israel is the only country where an Arab – a Palestinian – can appeal to the Supreme Court against the Israeli government and get an injunction against his own government. Ask them to do that in Damascus or Libya, they wouldn’t dare, they wouldn’t have the ability or the guts, they would be executed or imprisoned,” he said.
The ESCWA is headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon and is comprised of 18 member states from the Middle East and North Africa.
In February, Haley voiced her concerns at the UN about the double standards and bias the international body harbors toward Israel.
“I am here to underscore the ironclad support of the United States for Israel,” Haley told reporters following her first meeting with the Security Council on Middle East issues. “I’m here to emphasize the United States is determined to stand up to the UN’s anti-Israel bias. We will never repeat the terrible mistake of Resolution 2334 and allow one-sided Security Council resolutions to condemn Israel. Instead, we will push for action on the real threats we face in the Middle East.”
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