Israeli ambassador to UN to member states: Avoid Nakba Day event

Attendance at a “Nakba Day” event at the UN will only increase tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan warned member states in a letter sent Sunday.

Erdan railed against the event declaring Israel’s establishment a “catastrophe,” the meaning of the Arabic world Nakba, saying that he is “working to ensure member states understand that attending this despicable event means destroying any chance of peace.”

Going to the event means “adopting the Palestinian narrative calling the State of Israel a disaster while ignoring Palestinian hate, incitement, terror and refusal to accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state,” the ambassador said.

What is 'Nakba Day'?

“Nakba Day” events mark what Palestinians consider to be the “catastrophe” of Israel’s founding and Israel’s War of Independence that led 750,000 Palestinians to flee, many at the encouragement of Arab leaders who promised they would be able to return after the Jews were defeated. The events present Palestinians entirely as victims, rather than parties to a conflict with Israel.

The US and UK do not plan to take part in the event, diplomatic sources confirmed last week. Erdan said that several others have followed suit, and he calls on all member states to do so, as well.

The ambassador’s letter describes the historical events surrounding Israel’s founding, stating that “on May 14, 1948, the State of Israel declared its establishment in line with the United Nations’ 1947 Partition Plan. The Arab states, including the Palestinians who lived in Israel, rejected the Partition Plan and immediately following Israel’s declaration of independence, five Arab armies invaded Israel in order to obliterate the nascent State.”

“The thought that an international organization could mark the establishment of one of its member states as a catastrophe or disaster is both appalling and repulsive,” Erdan wrote. “This event is a blatant attempt to distort history, neglecting the fact that those who paint themselves as the victims were actually the aggressors who initiated a five-front war on the newly established State of Israel. This horrifying falsification must not be condoned in any way shape or form.”

Supporting the one-sided nature of the “Nakba” narrative that paints Israel as a “source of all evil” and root of all of the Palestinians’ ills “does not bring the conflict to an end, but only serves to enflame tensions,” he wrote.

Erdan also said that it is antisemitic to hold the Jewish State to a different standard than other member states, and attending the event, therefore, would “promote [an] antisemitic practice.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the May 15 event at the UN, along with UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary A. DiCarlo, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, NGO representatives and others.

The speeches will take place during a morning session held by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, while the commemorative event with music, videos and personal testimony will be held in the UNGA hall at 6 p.m. 

The event was instituted by a vote in November, as part of the annual package of UN resolutions favoring the Palestinians. Ninety countries, less than half of the UN’s 193 member states, voted in favor of commemorating the Nakba, but only 30 opposed, and there were enough abstentions and absences to approve the motion.

There was no decision taken to also commemorate the expulsion of some 900,000 Jews from Arab lands as the result of Israel’s creation. Last year, the Israeli Mission to the UN set up an exhibition at the UN about the "Jewish Nakba," the expulsion of Jewish from the Middle East and North Africa.

The Jewish NGO B’nai Brith International circulated a petition calling on officials from UN member states not to attend the event.