Joint List MK Aida Touma-Sliman
Photo: Gil Yohanan
B'Tselem, MK decry 'occupation' at UN conference
The NGO's executive director accuses Israel of labeling its international detractors anti-Semitic; the Joint List MK warns, 'Israel is a country that is developing clear signs of apartheid.'
B'Tselem's executive director and a member of Knesset addressed a UN conference marking "50 years of occupation" in New York on Friday.
"Palestinians who oppose the occupation are terrorists, Israelis who oppose the occupation are traitors, and those in the international community who oppose the occupation are of course anti-Semitic," Hagai El-Ad of B'Tselem said.
El-Ad at the UN (File photo)
El-Ad added, "The Israeli government is prepared to undermine the real fight against anti-Semitism in order to preserve the occupation with minimal repercussions from the international community."
He said that the UN Security Council does not take Resolution 2334 against the settlements seriously and neither does Israel. He expressed his disappointment over the failure to implement the resolution and called for it "to be given meaning as soon as possible."
Joint List MK Aida Touma-Sliman also spoke at the event. "The window to the two-state solution is narrowing, but the alternative is not a single democratic state," she said. "Today we live in a one-state reality, but this is not a country that grants equal rights to both peoples under its rule. In order to keep alive the possibility of a two-state solution, the international community must exert significant pressure on Israel. "
She added: "Israel is a country that is developing clear signs of apartheid. There can be no democracy with occupation, there can be no social justice with the oppression of an entire people."
