UN won’t reinstate official transferred for criticizing Islamic Jihad rocket fire

Luke Tress is a JTA reporter and a former editor and reporter in New York for The Times of Israel.

Sarah Muscroft, head of OCHA OPT, speaks in a video address in December 2020. (Screen capture/YouTube)
Sarah Muscroft, head of OCHA OPT, speaks in a video address in December 2020. (Screen capture/YouTube)

The UN says a senior official in East Jerusalem who was removed from her position after condemning Palestinian Islamic Jihad will remain in a new location, despite Israel calling to reinstate her.

Sarah Muscroft, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, was removed from her post last week after she condemned the Palestinian terror group’s conduct during the recent Gaza conflict.

Her tweet criticizing the PIJ for “indiscriminate rocket fire” sparked an uproar among Palestinian supporters.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan on Sunday called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to reverse the decision to transfer her out of her position.

But a UN spokesperson tells The Times of Israel that Muscroft will remain in a new position despite Erdan’s request.

“She’s been reassigned to a different post. I don’t know where that post yet is,” the spokesperson says.

“Her location of work has been changed. That was the decision taken by our Humanitarian Affairs office,” he says.

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