(Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images) Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid urged United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a July 31 letter to immediately remove U.N. Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Commission of Inquiry (COI) member Miloon Kothari as punishment for his antisemitic comments.
Lapid wrote that in a July 25 interview, Kothari accused the “Jewish lobby” of attempting to denigrate the inquiry, which is investigating Israel’s actions in the 2021 conflict with Hamas, and questioned why the U.N. ever granted Israel membership status. Despite the comments being condemned by various Western countries––including the United States––Inquiry head Navi Pillay defended them as being taken out of context.
“This latest shameful is a further example of [the inquiry’s] flawed and biased nature,” Lapid wrote. “The fight against antisemitism cannot be waged with words alone; it requires action. This is the time for action; it is time to disband the commission.”
UN Sec-Gen @AntonioGuterres, I know you’re deeply committed to fighting antisemitism.
There are antisemites and those who defend them working at the @UN.
I call on you to dismiss the members of the @UN_HRC’s COI and disband this moral travesty of a commission once and for all. pic.twitter.com/aiqdKXe8aY
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) July 31, 2022
The Simon Wiesenthal Center praised Lapid’s letter in a tweet. “Kudos to Israel PM @yairlapid. As currently structured COI is not an investigation but an Inquisition by anti-Israel zealots with anti-Semitic tropes spouted and defended. UN Sec-Gen @antonioguterres – pull the plug!”
Kudos to Israel PM @yairlapid. As currently structured COI is not an investigation but an Inquisition by anti-Israel zealots with anti-Semitic tropes spouted and defended. UN Sec-Gen @antonioguterres – pull the plug! https://t.co/LBcuRejoOM
— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) August 1, 2022
UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer lauded outgoing U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Ahmed Shaheed “for calling out antisemitic tropes voiced now by Miloon Kothari, member of the UNHRC commission of inquiry on Israel—and for recalling this echoed the antisemitism of the inquiry’s sponsor.”
Bravo to outgoing UN monitor on freedom of religion Ahmed Shaheed for calling out antisemitic tropes voiced now by Miloon Kothari, member of the UNHRC commission of inquiry on Israel—and for recalling this echoed the antisemitism of the inquiry's sponsor: https://t.co/K1nykm0apA https://t.co/xF34iRyXRz
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) July 31, 2022
Writer and commentator Avi Mayer tweeted, “We hear conspiracy theories about the ‘Israel lobby’ or ‘Zionists’ controlling this or that all the time. Miloon Kothari’s mistake was that he slipped up and said what he actually meant: it’s about the Jews. It’s always about the Jews.” He added in a subsequent tweet: “If Kothari had followed The Antisemites’ Playbook and stuck to the usual euphemisms like ‘the Israel lobby’ or ‘Zionists,’ none of the current uproar would have happened—except, perhaps, in Jewish and Israeli circles, where we know exactly what he would have meant.”
Here's the thing:
We hear conspiracy theories about the "Israel lobby" or "Zionists" controlling this or that all the time.
Miloon Kothari's mistake was that he slipped up and said what he actually meant: it's about the Jews.
It's always about the Jews.https://t.co/7A1y3KmsMa
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) August 1, 2022
If Kothari had followed The Antisemites' Playbook and stuck to the usual euphemisms like "the Israel lobby" or "Zionists," none of the current uproar would have happened—except, perhaps, in Jewish and Israeli circles, where we know exactly what he would have meant. https://t.co/IsTyAsompH
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) August 1, 2022
Human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky, who heads the International Legal Forum, noted in a tweet that Guterres had warned in January about the “’startling regularity with which conspiracy theories devolve into heinous antisemitic tropes.’ Yet he has not said a word in response to one of his officials, Miloon Kothari, claiming [the] ‘Jewish Lobby’ controls media.”
In January this year, @antonioguterres expressed alarm about the “startling regularity with which conspiracy theories devolve into heinous antisemitic tropes.” Yet he has not said a word in response to one of his officials, Miloon Kothari, claiming “Jewish Lobby” controls media. pic.twitter.com/zsra2JXpAr
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) August 1, 2022
Several Jewish groups––including the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Simon Wiesenthal Center, StandWithUs, B’nai Brith International and Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations––signed onto a July 29 letter also calling for the COI to be dissolved.
Letter from @Conf_of_Pres to @UN SecGen @antonioguterres condemning the despicable, antisemitic remarks made by UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) member Miloon Kothari and demanding the immediate dissolution of the open-ended COI. @FVillegasARG pic.twitter.com/y90b48Ocof
— William Daroff (@Daroff) July 29, 2022
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