UN ‘undermining Israel’s very existence’ by censoring exhibit about it

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations has said the world body is “undermining Israel’s very existence” by pulling three panels of an exhibition celebrating the state.

Danny Danon, who replaced Ron Prosor at the UN last year, reacted furiously after panels on Zionism, Jerusalem and Arab-Israelis were deemed “inappropriate”.

The ‘Israel Matters’ exhibit, created by pro-Israel group StandWithUs, opened this week to cries of “censorship” from right-winger Danon, who favours extending Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank “with the minimum number of Palestinians”.

Calling the decision “scandalous” and “outrageous,” he called on the UN to “apologise to the Jewish people,” saying: “By disqualifying an exhibition about Zionism, the UN is undermining the very existence of the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.” 

He added: We will not allow the UN to censor the fact that Jerusalem is Israel’s eternal capital…The U.N. must reverse this outrageous decision and apologise to the Jewish people.  Zionism and Jerusalem are the foundation stones and the moral basis upon which the State of Israel was founded.”

The Zionism panel states that Jews are “indigenous” to Israel, the Arab-Israeli panel notes that they “are equal citizens” while the Jerusalem panel says the city is the “spiritual and physical capital” of the Jewish people.