Israeli B’Tselem activist compares country’s policies to apartheid in UN speech
Human rights organisation's Executive Director Hagai El-Ad makes controversial remark, drawing rebuke from PM Benjamin Netanyahu
The head of Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem delivered a speech critical of Israel in front of the United Nations Security Council, drawing a rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
B’Tselem Executive Director Hagai El-Ad, in his speech before the Security Council on Thursday, focused on the recent Gaza protests and the planned evacuation of the West Bank Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar.
He called Israel’s settlement enterprise “a calculated and deliberate process of slowly splitting up an entire people, fragmenting their land, and disrupting their lives: separating Gaza from the West Bank, breaking up the West Bank into small enclaves, and walling off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.”
“Now the time has come for action,” he added.
He compared Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to the American South under Jim Crow laws, and to apartheid in South Africa.
“To Prime Minister Netanyahu I say this: you will never silence us – nor the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who reject a present founded on supremacy and oppression, and stand for a future built on equality, freedom and human rights,” he said.
El-Ad last addressed the Security Council in October 2016, near the end of the Obama administration.
Riyad Mansour, whose title is Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, followed El-Ad in addressing the council, calling the upcoming planned evacuation and demolition of Khan al-Ahmar a “war crime.”
Netanyahu called B’Tselem’s conduct “a disgrace that will be remembered as a short and temporary episode in our nation’s history.”
“As our soldiers prepare to defend Israel’s security, B’Tselem’s director chooses to deliver a speech full of lies at the U.N. in an attempt to help Israel’s enemies,” he said in a statement.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
