UN Wants References to Jerusalem as Capital Removed From Parliament Exhibit: Report
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by i24 News
The United Nations logo is seen at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 23, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
i24News – The United Nations has conditioned Israel’s request for an exhibit on the parliament at the organization’s New York headquarters, asking it to remove certain content, including references to Jerusalem as the country’s capital, Israeli television reported Thursday.
The exhibit, titled “The Knesset Celebrates 70 Years – Parliament Shapes Israeli Society,” was previously shown at Ben Gurion Airport in 2019.
According to Channel 12, the Israeli delegation to the United Nations requested to display the exhibit at UN headquarters on the condition that several items would have to be removed.
Among the content deemed objectionable is material relating to a quasi-constitutional Basic Law passed in 1980, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s “eternal and indivisible” capital.
“Please delete slide 43: According to the relevant decisions of the General Assembly and the Security Council, the Basic Law: Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, is not valid from our point of view,” the UN reportedly said in its instructions.
“This is a most sensitive issue, and the information in the slide contradicts international law,” the organization added.
Channel 12 also reported that the UN has asked Israel to remove text accompanying a photo of the parliament (Knesset) that describes Jerusalem as “the eternal capital of the Jewish people and their holy city.”
“This quote is not relevant to the photo, and its removal will help prevent contradictions with international law and political sensitivities,” the UN reportedly told Israel.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan protested the demands in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and called for the exhibit to be presented without modifications.
“The UN’s impertinent request to censor the exhibit and remove photos that reflect our national history is in fact a request to rewrite Israel’s history, and we will not accept it in any way,” Erdan stressed.
