Video: Why UN should say “good riddance” to Israel

ALI ABUNIMAH

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine, now out from Haymarket Books.

Also wrote One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. Opinions are mine alone.

On Friday I spoke to Aaron Maté of The Real News about the decision by the United States and Israel to pull out of UNESCO over claims that the United Nations cultural body has an “anti-Israel bias.”

I explained that these claims are based on lies from Israel and its supporters that recent UNESCO resolutions deny Jewish connections to heritage sites in East Jerusalem and Hebron, both of which are in the occupied West Bank.

“I welcome Israel’s announcement that it plans to withdrawal from UNESCO and encourage Israel to go much further and to withdraw from other UN agencies and indeed from the United Nations altogether,” I told Maté. “I think that would be fitting, since Israel has since its establishment, shown nothing but utter contempt for the United Nations, utter disregard for international law, and is in violation of more UN resolutions by far than any other state.”

We also spoke about the recent “reconciliation” agreement signed by Hamas and Fatah. In spite of celebrations and fanfare, I warned that major obstacles remain – principally that Israel and its international backers reject any dealings with Hamas unless it surrenders its weapons and gives up the right to resist Israel’s occupation.

I said that this rejectionism by Israel and its international backers is making next Gaza war more likely

Watch the video above

.https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-why-un-should-say-good-riddance-israel