Israel’s UN Ambassador Mocks PA President’s Plan to Sue Britain for Balfour Declaration: ‘Why Not Go After Egypt for the Exodus?’
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by Lea Speyer
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon. Photo: World Likud.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday sarcastically called on the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to consider suing Egypt, France and Iran for their historic roles in securing a Jewish state in the land of Israel.
Danny Danon published his snide remark in a Twitter graphic in response to the recent announcement of plans by PA President Mahmoud Abbas to sue the UK for the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the historic document stating the British government would “view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” According to Abbas, the Balfour Declaration is the direct cause of the “Palestinian Nakba,” the “disaster” of Israel’s founding.
“We are working to open up an international criminal case for the crime which they committed against our nation — from the days of the British Mandate all the way to the massacre which was carried out against us from 1948 onwards,” said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on behalf of Abbas.
Calling this out as ridiculous, Danon posted:
If Abu Mazen wants to sue the UK over the Balfour Declaration, then he should also consider suing… pic.twitter.com/Rmula9HS7d
— Ambassador Danon (@dannydanon) July 26, 2016
Each of the three example cited by the Israeli ambassador are regarded as significant moments in the Jewish nation’s quest for rights, sovereignty and possession of the land of Israel.
The exodus from Egypt marked the beginning of the Jewish people’s 40-year trek through the desert to the Promised Land.
In 1799, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte issued a letter offering Palestine as a homeland to the Jews under French protection. The initiative was stalled following Bonaparte’s defeat and subsequent withdrawal from the Near East.
In 1879, what is now known as the Cyrus Cylinder was discovered in today’s modern Iraq. The Cylinder’s text — which praises King Cyrus of Persia and records his conquest of Babylon in 539 BC — outlines Cyrus’s policy of allowing a number of people who were held captive by Babylonian kings to return to their homelands. While Jews are not mentioned specifically, many scholars view the text as evidence corroborating Cyrus’s reinstatement of the Jewish people to Israel.
