|
Pro-Israeli Canadian lawyer ejected from UN |
|
|
|
Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service, with files from Kenyon Wallace,
National Post
UNITED NATIONS -- Guards ejected an accredited Canadian commentator from the
United Nations after she denounced a controversial report that focuses
heavily on alleged Israeli war crimes.
Anne Bayefsky, a York University political science professor, offered the
only pro-Israel commentary on Thursday night at a microphone outside the
General Assembly hall following remarks by its Libyan president, Ali Treki,
and the chief Palestinian official at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour.
Arab and Muslim countries had overcome Western opposition in the adoption of
a resolution endorsing the report by South African Judge Richard Goldstone,
which focuses on the Israeli assault last winter on Gaza.
Ms. Bayefsky said four guards confiscated two UN passes the organization had
issued to her as director of Touro Law Center's Institute on Human Rights
and The Holocaust, and removed her from the building after questioning her.
"I am quite sure that if I had congratulated the United Nations, no one
would have said anything," said Ms. Bayefsky, who was unable to get her
credentials reinstated after spending more than two hours drafting a request
at the UN last night.
UN-based blogger Matt Lee said Mr. Mansour, after being told a "pro-Israel
non-governmental organization" had spoken at the microphone, asked: "Did we
capture them?"
Mr. Lee said he spoke with Mr. Mansour after the guards had led Ms. Bayefsky
away, and security officials were unable to confirm last night whether they
had acted of their own accord, or in response to a complaint.
Mr. Treki's spokesman, Jean Victor Nkolo, said Ms. Bayefsky was "not
authorized at all" to use the mike.
"This is a stakeout for member states and for the General Assembly," he
said. "NGOs and private individuals have nothing to do there. Period."
Mr. Nkolo dismissed suggestions Ms. Bayefsky would have felt free to
approach the microphone on grounds that other similarly accredited
organizations have done so in the past.
Human Rights Watch's Steve Crawshaw spoke there in 2007 as he complimented
the assembly on a widely cheered human rights decision, Mr. Lee's
innercitypress.com Website notes. Actress Mia Farrow, an activist against
Sudanese actions in Darfur, also spoke at a microphone generally used by
diplomats, addressing reporters outside the UN Security Council this year.
Ms. Bayesfky herself had previously spoken at the microphone following the
UN's Human Rights council elections, without incident.
Ms. Bayefsky had offered her assessment of the resolution, which gives both
Israel and the Palestinians three months to launch "independent credible
investigations" into alleged war crimes outlined in the Goldstone report.
Part of her focus was on Hamas, which controls Gaza, but which most western
countries list as a terrorist organization. "The idea that ... a terrorist
organization is going to decide for itself whether or not it violates the
rule of law is something that, I think, no serious democratic society will
take seriously," she said.
"You just have to ask yourselves whether this process has done anything in
terms of bolstering the credibility of the United Nations."
Little more than half of the assembly's 192 members approved the resolution,
which passed 114 in favour, 18 against (including Canada), with 44
abstentions.
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites  |
