Jerusalem, Jul 28 (PTI) Israel on Thursday condemned what it called the “anti-semitic” and “racist” remarks made by UN Commission of Inquiry member Miloon Kothari, who claimed that social media is controlled by a “Jewish lobby” and questioned why the Jewish state is a member of the United Nations.
Kothari, an Indian human rights scholar/activist and housing rights advocate, is one of the three members of the ‘UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel’ instituted last year to probe into 11 days of violence in the volatile region.
In an interview to the Mondoweiss website that was published on Monday, Kothari is said to have questioned Israel’s membership in the United Nations.
“We are very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by – whether it is the Jewish lobby or specific NGOs,” Kothari reportedly said.
Keren Hajioff, Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s spokesperson, said that the international community “should be outraged by Kothari’s antisemitic comments.” “His racist remarks about ‘the Jewish Lobby’ that controls the media and his questioning Israel’s right to exist as a member of the family of nations – echo the darkest days of antisemitism,” Hajioff said in a statement released by the PMO.
Calling for disbanding the Commission of Inquiry (COI), Hajioff said it “is the epitome of moral hypocrisy”.
“It makes a mockery of the UN Human Rights Council’s own supposed standards of independence and impartiality,” the Israeli official said.
“The evidence is clear: this illegitimate and biased Commission must be disbanded and its commissioners disqualified from UN work,” the spokesperson demanded.
The COI is chaired by South African human-rights expert Navi Pillay, who is a former UN high commissioner for human rights. Its third member is Australian legal expert Chris Sidoti. PTI HM SCY AKJ SCY SCY
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