UN officials contacted Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, to ask him to remove a picture of two deer from an Israeli exhibition at the General Assembly headquarters in New York.
The exhibition, scheduled to be shown in two weeks, was set up by the Israeli delegation to the UN and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and is meant to show the beauty of Israel's environment.
The UN officials objected to the picture of the deer because they stated that it was taken in the Jordan Valley and not within the 1949 armistice lines. They called the picture "controversial," and a sign was placed near the exhibition stating: "The content of this exhibition is solely the responsibility of the sponsoring and supporting member states, any queries should be directed to them."
“There’s no limit to the United Nations’ obsession with Israel,” Danon said in response to the request to remove the picture of the deer. “The decision to try and censor a picture of animals in nature just because it was taken in the Jordan Rift Valley is a new record of absurdity. We will not let them censor us and we will continue to display with pride the beautiful country of Israel.”
The head of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority accused the officials of politicizing animals. “Animals and nature need to be placed above politics as a part of the common denominator of all nations and all countries everywhere."