Inner City Press Asks Israel's Danny Danon If UNESCO Chief Bokova's Letter Should Be Public

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 26 -- When Israel's Permanent Representative Danny Danon came to the UN Security Council stakeout on January 26, Inner City Press asked him a cross-cutting question: should UNESCO chief Irina Bokova make public her reported letter to Iran?

 Danon's answer, video here, focused more on other UN system officials making their positions known. But on this and other issues, Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access believe that UN system documents should be made public. See here and here for more.

Back on October 16, 2015 before the emergency Palestine meeting of the UN Security Council, began, Danon came to address the press at the stakeout, with a tripod easel like his predecessor Ron Prosor.

   Inner City Press broadcast the easel via Periscope, and asked Danon about what's said in the Security Council about an expanded Quartet helping the situation. Danon replied that the solution is direct negotiations, with no preconditions.

  Before Inner City Press' question, another reporter posed his, complete with counter-prop, a photo on an i-Pad. (Inner City Press broadcast this too on Periscope.) The Israeli Mission, unlike some others, didn't try to insist that the question had to go to the journalist they'd chosen: the Free UN Coalition for Access favors this allowing of some openness in stakeout, unlike the censoring control asserted by, for example, UN Peacekeeping boss Herve Ladsous and some missions.

   Danon, it emerges, did not speak inside the Security Council; he has yet to hand his credentials to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (who is, once again, traveling, this time in Italy); he said he will do so on Wednesday of next week.

  Outside the Security Council at the stakeout Danon said, “Whoever avoids direct negotiations is looking for an escape hatch, and Abbas’s favorite kind of escape, is to spread slanderous lies about the situation on the Temple Mount, especially about the status quo. However, only 2 weeks ago Prime Minister Netanyahu stood here at the UN and repeated his commitment once again to maintaining the status quo. Let me make it clear. Israel will not agree to any international  presence on the Temple Mount. Any such intervention would violate the decades long status quo.”

   After the speeches in the Council Chamber, Inner City Press asked Palestine's Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour about an international protection presence. He replied that back in 1994 in UNSC Resolution 904, some 37 Scandinavian observers were deployed and remain in Hebron, so why not now? Why not indeed.

  Jordan's Dina Kawar seemed to say that such an international force is not envisioned at this point. Oman's representative, as head of the Arab Group, said work would continue. One wanted to ask her also about Oman's work on the conflict in Yemen, but it was not the time.

  Using the easel that he brought, Danon said, “On Monday, a  Palestinian boy attacked an Israeli boy who was riding his bike, stabbing him no less than 15 times. Let me repeat: 15 times! The victim is still hospitalized in critical condition. Ask yourselves, why would a 13-year-old boy decide to go on a stabbing spree and try to take another boy’s life? The answer is that such acts of terror do not occur in a vacuum. When a Palestinian child turns on a TV, he doesn’t see Barney or Donald Duck, he sees murderers portrayed as heroes. When he opens a textbook, he doesn’t learn about math and science, he’s being taught to hate.”

  Then Danon unveiled a picture or cartoon, knives at a body, widely photographed.

 “This picture you see here is an example of the kind of messages that Palestinian children are being exposed to day in and day out. The picture gives children elaborate instructions on how to stab a Jew. We talk about a lot about incitement- here you see what Palestinian incitement looks like. This picture is what is being taught in middle schools! Instead of educating about peace and tolerance, the Palestinian leadership is brainwashing children with incitement and hate,” Danon continued.

  The UN itself denounced social media, and got asked about its own, or UNRWA staff's, use of social media; UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said the UN reviews even its staff's retweets. Really? We'll have more on this.