Israel’s envoy to UN says it ‘must mark Jewish exile from Arab lands’

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations has said the world body should commemorate the flight of 850,000 Jews from the Middle East in 1948.

Gilad Erdan told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres the UN should hold an annual commemoration for the  Jews exiled from Arab countries owing to the creation of the state of Israel, saying the emphasis on Palestinians was “infuriating”. Israel officially commemorates the expulsion of Jews from Arab states on 30 November every year.

Erdan said: “It is infuriating to see the UN mark a special day and devote a lot of resources for the issue of Palestinian refugees, while abandoning and ignoring hundreds of thousands of Jewish families deported from Arab countries and Iran.”