By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 2 --
"I came to say
goodbye,"
envoy to Syria
Lakhdar
Brahimi told
Iran's Foreign
Minister Javad
Zarif on
Wednesday. "I
am leaving."
"Leaving
to
our place?"
Zarif asked.
"Are you
coming to Iran
next?"
"Inshallah,"
Brahimi
said. "Insha'Allah."
UN
General Debate
week was over,
but at 4:10 pm
on Wednesday
Iran's Zarif
met with UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon and
his team, on
the UN's 38th
floor.
Inner
City Press
went up for
the photo-op,
along with
other
camera-people:
four Iranian
and one
Lebanese, for
the station Al
Mayadeen. No
one else,
apparently,
cared. But up
on the 38th
floor, even
before the
meeting, envoy
to Syria
Lakhdar
Brahimi came
into view. A
UN Security
guard ordered,
with authority
unclear, not
to film
Brahimi.
Also
present on the
UN side were
Jeffrey
Feltman,
formerly the
US State
Department's
Middle East
chief, and
Angela Kane,
the head of UN
Disarmament.
There was Ivan
Simonovic on
human rights,
and Valerie
Amos on
humanitarian
affairs.
There
was Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson, seen
earlier in the
day at the
press
conference on
migration,
graciously
making sure
that the Free
UN Coalition
for Access @FUNCA_info got a question,
about the
death of
workers from
Nepal in
Qatar.
But it
was Zarif who
appeared most
collected and
in charge at
the beginning
of the meeting
with the UN.
He said in
passing this
was his third
time up here,
"once with the
President,"
Hassan
Rouhani. As he
signed Ban
Ki-moon's book
he said, I'll
give you one
more
signature. Video of that, on Inner City
Press' YouTube
channel, here.
Ban's
just prior
meeting had
been with
Israeli
politician
Zehava Galon,
Member of
Knesset and
Chairperson of
the Meretz
Party in
Israel.
After
Prime Minister
Benjamin
Netanyahu's
Tuesday speech
-- for which
Ban's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
postponed the
noon briefing
-- and Iran's
right of
reply, which
Nesirky talked
over, it was
reported as
newsworthy
that Iran
called Israel,
Israel. But
that as
subsequently
corrected,
that had been
done before.
What's in a
word?
While
the four
Iranian and
one Lebanese
camera-people
and Inner City
Press were up
covering
Zarif, Brahimi
and Ban, down
on the third
floor of the
UN there was a
4 pm party for
the "end of
the GA," in a
space which
only in July
hosted a faux
UN briefing by
Saudi-sponsored
Syria
rebel boss
Ahmad al
Jarba.
Those are the
politics of
those running
that club or
alliance, the
UN
Correspondents'
Association,
UNCA, or UN's
Censorship
Alliance, to
which Ban's UN
gives a lock
clubhouse for
faux UN
briefings --
the backdoor
way into the
UN, it's
become known.
Nesirky
when
Pressed to
explain why he
postponed for
Israel but
spoke over
Iran's reply
replied, as
transcribed by
the UN:
Question:
I understand
there was a
lot of
interest in
the speech of
the Prime
Minister of
Israel, Mr.
[Benjamin]
Netanyahu, and
there have
been other
times where
I’d wished the
briefing had
been postponed
to hear, for
example, the
Foreign
Minister of
Rwanda. But, I
just want to
know what the
policy is,
because every
day in this
last seven
days at noon
there’s been
somebody
speaking.
What’s the
policy on when
the briefing
is postponed
for a
particular
Head of State?
Currently,
Iran is
speaking,
giving its
response to
what Mr.
Netanyahu
said, and
we’re,
obviously,
having the
briefing at
the same time.
So, I just
wanted to sort
of ask you
that, in an
open-ended
fashion, what
is the policy?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I think
journalists
who are
covering hard
news do
understand why
I would not
think it
advisable to
go
head-to-head
with Prime
Minister
Netanyahu.
He’s the Head
of Government,
not the Head
of State, by
the way;
that’s Shimon
Peres. And,
that’s the
first thing.
The second is
that there is
no hard and
fast rule.
It’s simply to
try to help
journalists,
like yourself,
to be able to
cover things
to the best of
their ability.
The fact of
the matter is
that the
journalists in
this building,
for the most
part, were
focused today
very much on
what Prime
Minister
Netanyahu
would have to
say, and he
was the last
speaker in the
general
debate; and
therefore, I
took the
decision that
it would be
better not to
go head to
head with
Prime Minister
Netanyahu, but
to listen to
what he had to
say and to
allow the
journalists
who are
covering him
to be able to
listen, too,
and not be…
have their
attention
divided by
wondering
whether there
was anything
going to be
said at the
briefing, for
example, about
the chemical
weapons team
that went in
today. As for
the rights of
reply, that’s
a separate
matter. That
is a
procedural
matter. This
was a speech
that was the
last one in
the general
debate.
Inner
City Press::
And I really
appreciate
that. My only
question would
just be… since
you’re using
this term
“hard news”
and that this
is harder news
than other
Heads of State
or Heads of
Government.
Isn’t a
definition of
“hard news”
hearing what
the other side
has to say,
which is
taking place
right now?
Spokesperson:
I think you
understand the
distinction,
Matthew, and I
think that
most
journalists in
this room and
watching this
would
understand the
distinction
Inner
City Press:
Did you take a
poll? Is that
based on any
polling data?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
It’s based on
my experience,
for a quarter
of a century —
far longer
than you,
Matthew — as a
journalist.
Thanks very
much. Good
afternoon,
thank you.
And
that is
another reason
for the
founding of
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
@FUNCA_info.
Watch this
site.
, 
