“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in …’” (Matthew 25:41–43)
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last Tuesday that Israelis who live in the disputed territories should be barred entry from all the nations of the world.
“[The nations of the world] must not deal directly or indirectly with the occupation system, in addition to not allowing the entry of illegal settlers into their country,” Maliki said. He didn’t suggest how Jews in Judea and Samaria could leave the territories if they were barred from international travel—perhaps because Judea and Samaria are part of Israel’s heartland.
Riyad al-Maliki, PA Foreign Minister, during the flag raising ceremony for the State of Palestine on October 13, 2015. (UN Photo by Jean-Marc Ferré)
Although boycotts are being denounced by many nations, the PA Foreign Minister added a call to the nations “to boycott settlements and to boycott the products of settlements” and pressed them to threaten Israel with economic and commercial sanctions “in accordance with the guidelines on business and human rights.”
Maliki has also appealed to the UN Security Council, which has been accepted internationally as a lawmaking body, to establish a consensus regarding the “illegal nature” of Jews living in Judea and Samaria.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon condemned Maliki’s anti-Jewish statements, calling the minister’s appeal to bar Jews living in Judea and Samaria from travel as blatant discrimination.
“These remarks are pure anti-Semitism and must be treated as such; such statements are reminiscent of dark times in history,” Danon said. “Jews will no longer be marked and singled out.”
“I call on the international community to denounce the Palestinian Foreign Minister’s remarks and to unequivocally condemn all manifestations of anti-Semitism,” Danon said.
Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations
Also on Tuesday, chairman for Israel’s Yesh Atid (There is a Future) political party, Yair Lapid, said he would speak outside the Palais des Nations on March 21 in Geneva where the UNHRC is headquartered to protest the council’s anti-Israel bias while, indoors, the UNHRC is slated to discuss several anti-Israel resolutions.
“The biased and hypocritical conduct of the council has made it no longer fit for the purpose of protecting human rights,” Lapid said in his announcement. (Israel HaYom)
The gathering that Lapid plans to address will include members of StandWithUs, the Israel Allies Foundation, the European Union of Jewish Students, the World Union of Jewish Students, the World Zionist Organization, and the Swiss-Israel Friendship Association.
Former Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid
According to Lapid, the protestors will draw attention to the UNHRC’s “hypocrisy and disproportionality” and stated that the council “lost its legitimacy long ago.”
“While hundreds of thousands are killed and millions displaced in Syria, while terrorists are beheading people and forcing women into slavery in Iraq, while millions of people can only dream of basic freedoms, the UN Human Rights Council has condemned Israel more times than the rest of the world combined,” Lapid elaborated.
On March 7, Yair Lapid addressed the Jewish state’s Land of Israel caucus where [he urged] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to permit Jews to develop more homes in Ma’ale Adumim — a Jewish settlement 4.3 miles from Jerusalem.
“The reality in which a city that is in the Israeli consensus cannot develop because of a diplomatic building freeze is absurd and unacceptable in a sovereign state,” said the caucus heads Yoav Kisch (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) in a joint statement. “The time has come to say enough is enough and urge the government to build, especially now.” (JPost)
