Prosor at UN
Photo: Reuters
Prosor accuses global community of 'hypocrisy'
Israeli ambassador to UN slams European initiatives to recognize Palestinian state outside peace process, warns moves remove incentive to renounce violence.
WASHINGTON – Israeli ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor borrowed from a famous 19th century French writer's pamphlet on anti-Semitism to defend Jerusalem during the United Nation's annual commemoration of the international body's vote on the partition of the British Mandate.
Addressing diplomats and dignitaries, Prosor took a page from Emile Zola's "J'accuse" to respond to the anti-Israel declarations at a special session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, also attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"To the nations that continue to allow prejudice to prevail over truth, I say 'J’accuse,'" Prosor told the attendees, "I accuse you of hypocrisy. I accuse you of demanding concessions from Israel, but asking nothing of the Palestinians."
Israeli Ambassador to UN Ron Prosor (Photo: AP)
In a soaring attack on world powers at an event for the UN's International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the Israeli ambassador railed at the insincerity of global support for Jerusalem's security.
"I accuse you of speaking about Israel’s right of self-defense in theory, but denying it in practice. I accuse you of lending legitimacy to those who seek to destroy our state," said Prosor, adding, "Our conflict has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish state."
While the European Union has traditionally maintained a unified policy on the conflict at the event, Sweden chose to send its deputy foreign minister to speak this year – only weeks after Stockholm announced its intention to recognize Palestine.
Prosor attacked European governments, in general, and Sweden, in particular, saying they are "failing us again" and their recognition of a Palestinian state was an "historic mistake."
The Israeli ambassador said such votes and declarations are "giving the Palestinians exactly what they want – statehood without peace. By handing them a state on a silver platter, you are rewarding unilateral actions and taking away any incentive for the Palestinians to negotiate or compromise or renounce violence."
Prosor noted that, unlike Europe, the United States supported Israel throughout its history and emphasized that "among 193 flags at the UN there is one flag with a Jewish Star of David. There is just one small nation state for the Jewish people, and for some people, that is one too many."
He told the gathered dignitaries that the event to mark International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was "not about speaking for peace or speaking for the Palestinian people – it is about speaking against Israel."
Earlier in the evening, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the international community's failure to advance a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is spurring governments and parliaments to take action to recognize the state of Palestine – and "that momentum will grow."
"Indeed – as we see around the world – governments and parliaments are taking action," Ban said.
AFP contributed to this report.
