Israel’s UN envoy pens letter to secretary general asking to cancel firing of senior official

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, asking to cancel the firing of a UN senior official.

Sarah Muscroft, the head of one of the UN’s offices serving the Palestinians, was fired after she posted a tweet in which she condemned Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s “indiscriminate rocket fire” during the recent Gaza conflict.

“While we have not always agreed with all of Ms. Muscroft’s tweets, or those of her UN counterparts, Israeli disagreement or criticism has been expressed in a normative way,” Erdan writes in the letter.

“However, Israel is disturbed to see that Palestinian outrage over tweets
would so quickly devolve into ending the ability of a senior UN staffer to keep her job, and to express herself,” he says.

“We ask that the issue of Ms. Muscroft be examined with utmost concern. We call on OCHA and the UN to reverse this unfortunate decision which is perceived as a reward for intimidation and threats,” Erdan says.

“While Israel supports constructive engagement with UN officials and agencies, we cannot accept such blatant double standards,” he adds.