Israel rejects immunity for indicted UN engineer in Gaza
UNITED NATIONS -- The Israeli government on Thursday rejected a U.N. request for diplomatic immunity for a Palestinian engineer who worked for the U.N. in the Gaza Strip but is now in prison after being accused of assisting the territory's Islamic militant Hamas rulers.
Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said "Israel rejects the claim that a person assisting a terror organization recognized by the international community such as Hamas could enjoy immunity."
"It is outrageous that a man assisting a terror organization could benefit from U.N. immunity," Nachshon said. "It is clear that immunity is not a license to commit acts of terror."
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said the U.N. legal office claimed that any U.N. employee should receive diplomatic immunity from local authorities and that until Borsh's release from prison he should be granted visits by the organization.
