By Joseph Byron
The European Jewish Congress (EJC) denounced “anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks” made by the president of the United Nations General Assembly and called for his resignation.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Paris-based pan-European Jewish organisation condemned comments by Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, a Nicaraguayan politician and Catholic priest, on the occasion of the UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people earlier this week in New York.
“The EJC strongly condemns the most intolerable of all his comments, namely accusing Israel of ‘crucifying our brothers and sisters’ in Palestine.”
“Such hate speech and anti-Semitic vitriol tarnishes the image of the United Nations and erodes the credibility of an international body that has been established on the ashes of World War II”; the EJC statement said.
The Jewish group considers Brockmann’s accusation of Israel as an apartheid state to be “unacceptable”.
The EJC recalled that the UN General Assembly revoked the comparison of Zionism to racism in a resolution in 1991.
“The EJC calls upon the UN General Assembly to publicly denounce these comments and demands that it remove Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann from his position immediately”.
