Belgium has canceled the invitation of an NGO leader, considered " pro-Palestinian " by Israel, to deliver a speech to the UN Security Council after pressure from the Israeli government, said Friday 21 February the leader of the NGO.
Brad Parker, an official with Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP), was invited by Brussels, who holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council, to address the highest organ of the United Nations. This NGO claims to defend the rights of children in the Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel.
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The Israeli authorities, for their part, accuse him of having in the past, on its boards of directors, members affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an organization considered as terrorist by the European Union, the United States and Israel.
Israel accuses more particularly Mr. Parker, an NGO official in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, of publishing " anti-Israeli " content on social networks. Parker assured AFP that he would no longer address the Security Council after a change in the nature of the discussions he was to attend.
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" The Belgian government has turned the meeting into closed-door consultations, which means that I will not speak ," Parker told AFP. " We were planning to provide an evidence-based statement showing the serious violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories from 2014 to the end of 2019, " he said. " It is frustrating that once again the political context has contributed to silence our voice, " he denounced.
Israel's ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, Emmanuel Nahshon, wrote on Twitter earlier this month that inviting Parker had created " unnecessary tension " that was " easily avoidable ."
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