From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Israeli ambassador to UN lashes out on Palestinian record on rights, terror stipends
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan lambasts the Palestinian Authority over its payments to security prisoners during his remarks at the monthly Security Council session.
Turning to Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour, Erdan says, “Mr. Ambassador, are you not ashamed to come before the Security Council when your government is paying hundreds of millions of dollars to terrorists?”
While the PA defends these payments as akin to any country’s welfare system that provides stipends to those in prison, Ramallah says it is in talks with the Biden administration to reform the policy.
Erdan accuses Mansour of hypocrisy for speaking to the security council about human rights “while your police forces are beating to death real civil society activists, such as Nizar Banat.
“How can you claim to represent the Palestinian people when 80 percent of Palestinians are fed up with President Abbas?” Erdan continues, referencing recent polling that showed the vast majority of Palestinians want the PA president to resign.
Erdan also admonishes the security council for creating “a false reality in which every Palestinian claim against Israel is the most urgent issue on the agenda, while the terror and destruction of Iran and its proxies throughout the region are almost an afterthought.”
He notes the Security Council’s “absurd” decision to invite Palestinian activist Hanan Ashrawi, who formerly served as a member of the PLO Executive Committee, to address the body as a member of Palestinian civil society.
“What’s next? Will you invite [former Iranian president] Hassan Rouhani and [former foreign minister] Javad Zarif as representatives of Iranian civil society?” Erdan scoffs.
The Times of Israel Community.