Danny Danon Says He Will
Not Run For
Knesset But
Stay at UN
Where Guterres
No Answers to
Press
By Matthew
Russell Lee, CJR Letter
PFTracker
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, December 29 – On the
United States' draft UN
resolution to condemn Hamas,
there was a Bolivian
amendment. But after an hour's
delay, the amendment was
withdrawn and a vote held on
whether to require a two
thirds majority on the US
draft. Outgoing US Ambassador
Nikki Haley opposed this, but
it passed,
75-72-28. On December 26,
after Inner City Press
submitted a Palestine question
to the Office of the
Spokesperson for absent UNSG
Antonio Guterres without any
answer, the Israeli Mission
issued this: "In anticipation
of the upcoming Security
Council debate on the
Situation in the Middle East,
the Palestinians are expected
to initiate an application for
full state membership at the
United Nations. Ambassador
Danon: "We are preparing to
stop the initiative. The
Palestinians pay terrorists
and encourage violence yet
seek to become a member state
of the United Nations." Today,
the Palestinian Authority's
(PA) Foreign Minister, Riyad
al-Maliki, announced that the
Palestinians would appeal to
the United Nations ?Security
Council to gain recognition as
a full member state of the
United Nations. The request
has emerged against the
backdrop of the Security
Council's quarterly discussion
on the Situation in the Middle
East, which is expected to
take place on 15 January 2019,
and focus primarily on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Now on December 29, this:
"Ambassador Danny Danon:
"Under the leadership of Prime
Minister and Minister of
Foreign Affairs Benjamin
Netanyahu, the Israeli Mission
to the United Nations
continues to achieve
unprecedented accomplishments
in the diplomatic arena.
During this challenging
period, I intend to continue
advancing Israel's position at
the UN, and therefore I will
not participate in these
upcoming Knesset elections.
The role of Israel's
ambassador to the UN is one of
great responsibility, and I
will continue to strengthen
Israel's standing during this
trying time." In January,
Ambassador Danon will lead a
delegation of 40 UN
ambassadors to visit Israel,
during which the group will
also tour Israel's northern
border." At noon on December
26, Inner City Press asked the
UN: "December 26-9: What is
the SG's comment (and action
if any) on this “Palestinian
foreign minister Riyad
al-Malki declared on Wednesday
that Palestine would apply for
full state membership at the
United Nations in January.Mr
Al-Malki told the official
radio station Voice of
Palestine that he would file
the application to upgrade
Palestine's status from an
observer state to a full
member state to the UN
Security Council.”
The questions
were emailed by banned Inner
City Press, pursuant to USG @Alison_Smale's
promise to UNSR @DavidAKaye they
would be answered, also to,
among others, Amina Mohammed,
Marcia
Soares Pinto,
Keishamaza
Rukikaire, Hua
Jiang (who
refers to Hak-Fan
Lau, Mita Hosali, Joachim
Harris and Lydia Lobenthal)
and Maria Luiza Ribeiro
Viotti, who refers to Arnab
Roy and Eihab Omaish - as well
as the Guterres' own email. No
answers more than five hours
later, including on the UN
Public Financial Disclosure omissions
by Guterres. We will be
reporting on this, from the UN
Gate if necessary. Back on
December 6 after the vote,
Saudi Arabia spoke, as if it
had already voted against the
US resolution (not mention of
Jamal Khashoggi or Yemen, of
course). With the new
threshold, the US draft failed,
87 yes, 58 no and 33
abstentions. There was some
applause in the UNGA hall.
(Some didn't vote at all,
including with one vote to go
Burundi, Togo and Chad, in the
news for UN bribery, offers of
weapons for oil that Antonio
Guterres has not even audited
or dis-accrediting, while
having banned Inner City Press
155 days and counting).
Finally a draft by Ireland,
running for a UN Security
Council seat against Norway
and Canada, passed 155 yes,
five no, 12 abstaining. And so
it goes at the UN. On November
13 after the UNSC meeting
those two countries'
Ambassadors along with the
State of Palestine's Permanent
Observer Riyad Mansour took
two questions at the stakeout
that Inner City Press was
banned from for the 132nd day
by UNSC Antonio Guterres.
Kuwait's Mansour Al-Otaibi
said that most Council members
would like to travel to the
region. Palestine's Mansour
cited a three kilometer
incursion into the Gaza Strip
by Israeli military men, some
dressed in women's clothes.
The first question went to Al
Jazeera English, which worked
with Antonio Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric to
get Inner City Press roughed
up by UN Security June 22 and
July 3 then banned
since, all the while marketing
that Journalism Is Not A
Crime. The question, responded
to by Bolivia's Sacha
Llorenti, was about Jared
Kushner. And then it was over.
Earlier at 3:30 pm, Israel's
Ambassador Danny Danon spoke
to (some) reporters at the
Council stakeout position.
Inner City Press, which has
covered this issue for a
decade at the UN, was banned
from entering the UN to cover
this meeting, by Antonio
Guterres who is out of town,
this time in DC but without
meeting with a single
Administration official but
attending a predatory
investor's award ceremony.
This is today's UN. Israel's
Mission provided this: "Every
time Hamas shoots a rocket -
children at school, adults at
work, families all over the
country hear this" Danon said
to the sound of the "red
alert" air raid siren playing
from a phone. "Think of the
children running fearfully
into bomb shelters," he
continued. "Certain morally
bankrupt members of the
Security Council will jump to
blame Israel, and others who
pretend to be objective will
call for restraint on both
sides. But let me be clear:
there is no 'both sides'.
There is Hamas that attacks
and fires over 460 missiles at
civilians, and there is Israel
that protects its people. The
Security Council must condemn
Hamas for its aggressive
assault and finally designate
it as a terrorist
organization," Danon said.
Palestine has written to the
absent Guterres, including "On
11 November, an Israeli
military so-called “undercover
unit”, using a civilian car
and dressed as civilians, in
violation of the principle of
distinction, entered 3km (2
miles) inside the Gaza Strip.
invading east of Khan Younis
city in the southern Gaza
Strip and killing seven
Palestinians. This attack has
stoked high tensions and
provoked yet another cycle of
violence between the two sides
that risks further escalation
and destabilization,
jeopardizing the lives of
millions of innocent
civilians. Since yesterday,
Israel, the occupying power,
has been carrying out
large-scale assault against
civilian areas in the Gaza
Strip. These air strikes
constitute the most intense
military raids and attacks
since 2014. Six more
Palestinians were killed as a
result of the bombing of
numerous civilian properties,
including a hotel building and
a television station building
that were targeted and
destroyed by the occupying
forces." Back in
June, 12
days
after Kuwait's
draft UN
Security Council resolution
was vetoed by
the US, on
June 13 an essentially
identical
draft was
adopted in the UN
General
Assembly with
120 in favor,
eight against
and 45 abstaining.
But what did
it accomplish?
Now on
November
12, this from
the Israeli
Mission: "Israel's
ambassador to
the UN, Danny
Danon,
appealed to
the Security
Council
Tuesday to
condemn the
firing of
hundreds of
rockets at
Israel. In
his letter to
the Council's
members, the
ambassador
noted that 'after
a day of
rocket
barrages,
there is no
room for any
other
definition of
Hamas except
that of
terrorist
organization.
To the world
it presents
its civilians
as victims,
but then uses
them as human
shields.' The
ambassador
added that 'Israel
cooperated
with all
international
bodies,
including the
UN, but the
aggressive
escalation
from Gaza
indicates that
there are
elements
pushing for
another round
of violence
that will
cause
destruction
and losses
within the
Gaza Strip.'" UNSG Antonio
Guterres, just off his
16th junket to
Lisbon was in
Paris for two
speeches.
Al Jazeera
flew its
correspondent
who worked
with
Guterres'
Stephne
Dujarric to
get Inner City Press
roughed up June 22 and
July
3 and
banned
since to Paris,
where he put
out this breaking/broken
news:
Guterres called the
situation in
Gaza "very serious."
Later
the UN issued
this: "
The
Secretary-General
is following
closely the
latest
security
developments
in Gaza. He
urges all
parties to
exercise
maximum
restraint. The
United Nations
Special
Coordinator,
Nickolay
Mladenov, is
working
closely with
Egypt and all
concerned
parties to
restore
calm.Farhan
Haq, Deputy
Spokesman for
the
Secretary-General New
York, 12
November
2018." The same
Farhan Haq who
did not answer a
single one of
the six
questions
Inner City
Press submitted in
writing at noon
on November
12 - while his
boss Dujarric
reached out selectively
to Europe to
defends the ban of
Inner City Press...
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in
the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-2015 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
for
|
,
