The Biden administration confirmed it did not attend the two events to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nakba Day at the United Nations headquarters in New York due to anti-Israel bias on the part of the organizers, even though it provides major financial assistance to Palestinian refugees.
“The United States also did not attend this event organized by the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and we never planned to attend this event,” the spokesman for the US Mission to the UN Nate Evans said in response to a query by The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
“The United States also did not attend this event organized by the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and we never planned to attend this event.”
Nate Evans
According to Israel’s mission to the UN, the United States was among 45 countries that boycotted the two UN Nakba Day events, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Portugal, Slovakia and Ukraine.
The two events commemorate what Palestinians view as “the Catastrophe Day,” to mourn the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the resulting destruction of Palestinian villages and the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians who became refugees.
US envoy: We have concerns over anti-Israel bias at UN
Evans said that “the United States continues to recognize the painful plight of Palestinian refugees and remains committed to a mutually agreed two-state solution that settles all final-status issues, including refugees.
He cautioned, however, that the “US has longstanding concerns over anti-Israel bias within the UN system, which is counter-productive to peace. We do not support events organized by bodies designed to perpetuate anti-Israel bias.”
The first event included a wide-ranging speech by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who disavowed the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and the adjoining Western Wall, known to Muslims as al-Haram, al-Sharif and the Buraq Plaza. He called for Israel’s ouster from the United Nations and accused its government of fabricating facts at a level akin to that of chief Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
Abbas also charged that the US and the United Kingdom were responsible for the Nakba and accused them of supporting Israel’s creation in part so they rid themselves of their Jewish citizens.
At no point did he explain that in 1947, the Arab States has a United Nations partitioned plan for two states accepted by the Jews and then attacked that nascent state launching an existential war.
Abbas did call for the UN to hold such Nakba Day events annually.
In the evening, a second event was held in the UN General Assembly’s main hall and included Palestinian singer Sanaa Moussa, cellist and composer Naseem Alatrash, and the New York Arabic Orchestra, directed by Grammy Award winner Eugene Friesen.
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