{"id":72508,"date":"2019-08-19T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T15:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=72508"},"modified":"2019-08-15T07:44:59","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T05:44:59","slug":"19-05-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=72508","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Israel activists cheer as UN anti-racism panel challenges Palestinians"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Pro-Israel activists cheer as UN anti-racism panel challenges Palestinians<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

RAPHAEL AHREN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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UN Watch\u2019s Hillel Neuer hails first time world body\u2019s spotlight is \u2018officially placed on Palestinian racism, discrimination and anti-Semitism\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Palestinian officials during the 99th session of the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva, August 14, 2019 (screenshot UN Web TV)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pro-Israel activists are celebrating that an important United Nations body this week for the first time probed the Palestinians\u2019 record on fighting racism and that some delegates challenged Ramallah over its alleged institutional anti-Semitism.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the 99th session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, during a review of the \u201cState of Palestine,\u201d some delegates referred to examples of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish content in Palestinian textbooks and state-owned media outlets.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened this week was unprecedented,\u201d declared Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based organization that addressed the session. \u201cSince 1974 when Yasser Arafat and the PLO were welcomed into the United Nations, this is the first time that the world body\u2019s spotlight was officially placed on Palestinian racism, discrimination and anti-Semitism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One member of the committee, Brazil\u2019s Deputy Special Secretary for Human Rights Silva Albuquerque, asked the Palestinian representatives about \u201cthe presence of anti-Semitic and discriminatory contents in textbooks used by children and teenagers in Palestinian schools,\u201d according to a press released issued by NGO Monitor, an Israel-based nonprofit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Citing information he had received from pro-Israel groups at the sidelines of the session, Albuquerque said he was shown \u201cvarious examples of allegedly racist and anti-Semitic language, content and textbooks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Other committee members, too, asked the Palestinian delegation to respond to similar allegations. The Palestinian delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister for Multilateral Affairs Ammar Hijazi, deflected critical questions, asserting Ramallah\u2019s opposition to racial discrimination.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe important point is that in the UN, the Palestinians are being forced to deal with their own anti-Semitism, including in their textbooks,\u201d said NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg, an Israeli political science professor who addressed this week\u2019s review session.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gerald Steinberg<\/strong> (Flash90)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As opposed to the \u201cusual procedures in the [UN] Human Rights Council,\u201d he added, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination listened to the presentations of pro-Israel groups and used the arguments made to challenge the Palestinians. \u201cThis is a major precedent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cState of Palestine\u201d joined the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2004. But although states must file reports on their implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination one year after acceding, and then every two years, the Palestinians submitted their first report only in March 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a062-page document<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0basically clears the Palestinians of any wrongdoing, while repeatedly accusing Israel of the worst offenses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe State of Palestine opposes racism and racial discrimination in all its forms,\u201d it states. At the same time, it claims that leading decision-makers in the \u201coccupation authority\u201d \u2014 Israel \u2014 \u201cincite racial discrimination and violence against Palestinians without being held to account for their words and deeds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Four NGOs, including UN Watch and NGO Monitor, submitted so-called\u00a0shadow<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0reports<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0in an effort to correct what they argue is a completely distorted description of the reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

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