At UN
As Israel's
Danon Talks
Hate Toys,
Reuters Holds
One Up
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 26 --
When Israel's
Ambassador to
the UN Danny
Danon came to
the UN
Security
Council
stakeout on
January 25,
Inner City
Press asked if
he would be
using a prop
-- a tripod or
easel like on
October 23 --
for his press
encounter.
There will be
a surprise,
Inner City
Press was
told.
As
Danon gave his
opening
statement,
correspondents
at the
stakeout asked
to hold a
prop, and some
did. As Danon
began to say
how “hate
toys” make
Palestinian
children hate
Israelis, he
referred to
two dolls
being held up
at the
stakeout as
props, video
here --
one, it turned
out, by the UN
correspondent
of the Reuters
wire service.
What
are Reuters'
policies in
this regard?
Inner City
Press and the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
have in the
past asked
Reuters
executives, in
writing, to
state their
policies --
without
receiving the
requested
information,
rather only a
threat to sue
revealed by
Inner City
Press' Freedom
of Information
Act request to
US-government
Voice of
America, here.
Will Reuters'
policies on this
be made known?
On this
theme of
transparency,
Inner City
Press asked
Danon if he
and the
Israeli
government
think that a
letter
UNESCO's Irina
Bokova has
reportedly
sent to Iran
should be made
public. We'll
have more on
this.
Back on
October 16,
2015 before
the emergency
Palestine
meeting of the
UN Security
Council began
on October 16,
Danon came to
address the
press at the
stakeout, with
a tripod easel
like his
predecessor
Ron Prosor.
Inner City
Press
broadcast the
easel via
Periscope, and
asked Danon
about what's
said in the
Security
Council about
an expanded
Quartet
helping the
situation.
Danon replied
that the
solution is
direct
negotiations,
with no
preconditions.
Before
Inner City
Press'
question,
another
reporter posed
his, complete
with
counter-prop,
a photo on an
i-Pad. (Inner
City Press
broadcast this
too on
Periscope.)
The Israeli
Mission,
unlike some
others, didn't
try to insist
that the
question had
to go to the
journalist
they'd chosen:
the Free UN
Coalition for
Access favors
this allowing
of some
openness in
stakeout,
unlike the
censoring
control
asserted by,
for example,
UN
Peacekeeping
boss Herve
Ladsous and
some missions.
Danon, it
emerges, did
not speak
inside the
Security
Council; he
has yet to
hand his
credentials to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon (who
is, once
again,
traveling,
this time in
Italy); he
said he will
do so on
Wednesday of
next week.
Outside
the Security
Council at the
stakeout Danon
said, “Whoever
avoids direct
negotiations
is looking for
an escape
hatch, and
Abbas’s
favorite kind
of escape, is
to spread
slanderous
lies about the
situation on
the Temple
Mount,
especially
about the
status quo.
However, only
2 weeks ago
Prime Minister
Netanyahu
stood here at
the UN and
repeated his
commitment
once again to
maintaining
the status
quo. Let me
make it clear.
Israel will
not agree to
any
international
presence on
the Temple
Mount. Any
such
intervention
would violate
the decades
long status
quo.”
After the
speeches in
the Council
Chamber, Inner
City Press
asked
Palestine's
Permanent
Observer Riyad
Mansour about
an
international
protection
presence. He
replied that
back in 1994
in UNSC
Resolution
904, some 37
Scandinavian
observers were
deployed and
remain in
Hebron, so why
not now? Why
not indeed.
Jordan's Dina
Kawar seemed
to say that
such an
international
force is not
envisioned at
this point.
Oman's
representative,
as head of the
Arab Group,
said work
would
continue. One
wanted to ask
her also about
Oman's work on
the conflict
in Yemen, but
it was not the
time.
Using
the easel that
he brought,
Danon said,
“On Monday,
a
Palestinian
boy attacked
an Israeli boy
who was riding
his bike,
stabbing him
no less than
15 times. Let
me repeat: 15
times! The
victim is
still
hospitalized
in critical
condition. Ask
yourselves,
why would a
13-year-old
boy decide to
go on a
stabbing spree
and try to
take another
boy’s life?
The answer is
that such acts
of terror do
not occur in a
vacuum. When a
Palestinian
child turns on
a TV, he
doesn’t see
Barney or
Donald Duck,
he sees
murderers
portrayed as
heroes. When
he opens a
textbook, he
doesn’t learn
about math and
science, he’s
being taught
to hate.”
Then
Danon unveiled
a picture or
cartoon,
knives at a
body, widely
photographed.
“This
picture you
see here is an
example of the
kind of
messages that
Palestinian
children are
being exposed
to day in and
day out. The
picture gives
children
elaborate
instructions
on how to stab
a Jew. We talk
about a lot
about
incitement-
here you see
what
Palestinian
incitement
looks like.
This picture
is what is
being taught
in middle
schools!
Instead of
educating
about peace
and tolerance,
the
Palestinian
leadership is
brainwashing
children with
incitement and
hate,” Danon
continued.
The UN
itself
denounced
social media,
and got asked
about its own,
or UNRWA
staff's, use
of social
media; UN
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
said the UN
reviews even
its staff's
retweets.
Really? We'll
have more on
this. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
