UN General Assembly president wears Palestinian flag scarf
Peter Thompson attends special meeting marking the 'International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People'; Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon charges that 'it's unacceptable for the GA president, whose position symbolizes neutrality, to don a Palestinian flag.'
The day of solidarity is marked on November 29, the date of the UN resolution adopting the Partition Plan, which paved the way for the end of the British mandate and the establishment of the State of Israel several months later.
CEIRPP's representatives often make anti-Israel and anti-Semitic comments. A year ago, representatives of the committee claimed that the State of Israel was carrying out ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians and that the Jewish state was to blame for the wave of terror attacks that plagued the country at the time.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, slammed Thomson's choice of attire, saying "It's unacceptable for the president of the UN General Assembly, whose position is a symbol of neutrality and stateliness, to wrap himself in a Palestinian flag and participate in an event whose sole purpose is to attack and besmirch the State of Israel. This is living, unequivocal proof of the bias against Israel and the slander spread about us at the UN."
Danon went on to bemoan the fact that "while Israel celebrates the UN decision that led to its independence, the UN chooses to mark the Palestinian 'Nakba (catastrophe).'"
"The Palestinians continue to try to avoid a direct dialogue with Israel through the UN, while the UN continues funding bodies motivated by narrow political interests that help perpetuate the conflict."
Later in the day, Danon spoke at the UN General Assembly, criticizing the event.
"Every year, on this date, this chamber holds this same, cynical, Israel-bashing festival," he said. "Every year, we hear speaker after speaker distorting history and promoting a completely one-sided narrative."
He presented the cover of the New York Times from November 30, 1947, with the headline: "Assembly votes Palestine partition ... Arabs walk out."
"This is the whole story," he said. "The Palestinians reject every Israeli offer and every plan and respond with waves of violence and terrorism."
The General Assembly adopted six resolutions critical of Israel on Tuesday, including one about the holy sites in Jerusalem that refers to the Temple Mount only by its Muslim name and fails to mention any Jewish holy sites.
Another resolution concerns the allocation of resources and encouraging the activities of different UN bodies whose purpose is to spread the Palestinian narrative and promote Palestinian interests.
A third unilateral decision calls on Israel to completely withdraw from the "occupied territories."
At a separate event also marking the day of solidarity with Palestinians Ban Ki-moon, whose 10-year tenure as UN secretary-general ends in a month, said that the international community must make clear that it remains committed to peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians because the prospects of an agreement are "threatening to slip out of reach."
