By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, September
29, more
here --
Hours after
Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu
gave his
speech in the
UN General
Assembly on
September 29,
Iran took the
floor at 8 pm
in Right to
Reply.
The Iranian
representative
called it
"laughable"
that Netanyahu
had spoken
about atrocities
by ISIL after
what he did in
Gaza. He
mocked the applause
Netanyahu got,
saying this
was from
people brought
in from
outside of the
UN. (Other delegations
bring people
in, but the
day's applause
was noticeable,
and noticed.)
Referring to
the P5+1
sessions in
New York which
a Western
diplomat
quoted by
Reuters and
said by
Iranian
sources to be
the French
foreign ministry
of Laurent
Fabius called
unproductive,
the reply said
Netanyahu was
trying to disrupt
the "earnest
and serious
negotiations"
about Iran's
nuclear
program.
One expected
there to be an
Israeli
sur-reply to
the reply, but
there was not.
The GA's chair
at the time,
Libya's Permanent
Representative
Ibrahim
Dabbashi,
gaveled the
meeting shut.
Earlier,
Netanyahu said
Israel bombing
Gaza to get
Hamas was the
same as the US
bombing Syria
and Iraq to
get ISIL.
Striking at
least two New
York City
notes,
Netanyahu said
that the
distance
between the
1967 lines and
Tel Aviv was
similar to
that between
the UN
building and
Times Square:
seven blocks.
He snarked
that saying
Iran doesn't
practice
terrorism is
like saying
Derek Jeter
doesn't play
shortstop. But
isn't Jeter
now retired?
There were
several rounds
of applause,
and some took
them at face
value. A Free
UN Coalition
for Access
member in the
room said it
was a cheering
squad to the
side. Any
speaker could
have brought
such a squad.
But would the
UN have
allowed it?
Earlier
on September
29, Israel's
Foreign
Minister
Avigdor
Liberman took
three
questions at
the General
Assembly
stakeout. The
only one in
English was
set aside for
the head of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
who asked
about Iran.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
opposes such
set aside,
especially to
what
has become the
UN's Censorship
Alliance.
Liberman had
previously
said that UN
envoy Robert
Serry would be
leaving his
position in
October, a
deadline Inner
City Press
then asked
Serry about.
(Serry said it
is up to Ban
Ki-moon, and
that Ban's
five year rule
is not a
rule.) But it
was not
possible to
ask Lieberman
about this on
September 29.
Back
on August 18,
Serry said,
"on three
occasions,
there was a
direct hit on
UNRWA
schools...A
total of 38
people were
killed in
those three
incidents, and
317 were
injured.
Eleven UNRWA
colleagues
were killed in
the line of
duty. The
Secretary
General has
called for a
thorough
investigation
into these
incidents to
assure full
accountability.”
So in the 12
days between
the two
statements,
has anything
been done? In
2009, Ban was
lobbied about
his
cover-letter
to the
previous board
of inquiry
report by Ian
Martin; now in
2014, as it
made up for
it, he
accepted free
private jet
travel from
Qatar, with
its stake and
position in
the conflict.
Neither is
acceptable.
On
the latter,
Israel's
Ambassador Ron
Prosor came
out of the
Council after
Serry's public
briefing and
said, among
other things,
that Qatar has
bought
campuses of
six
universities,
Harrod's and
the PSG
football club.
He cited the
2022 World
Cup, but did
not mention
Ban accepting
the
Qatar-funded
private jet.
He passed out
a flier,
"Captured
Hamas Combat
Manuel," which
Inner City
Press put
online here.
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