Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon on Friday welcomed the resignation of Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) Rima Khalaf.
Khalaf had earlier announced her resignation after backlash over ESCWA’s report which labeled Israel an "apartheid state". UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres demanded the report be removed from ESCWA’s website, and Khalaf subsequently stepped down.
"The Secretary General's decision is an important step in ending the bias against Israel at the UN," said Ambassador Danon.
"Anti-Israel activists do not belong in the UN. It is time to put an end to practice in which UN officials use their position to advance their anti-Israel agenda. Over the years Khalaf has worked to harm Israel and advocate for the BDS movement. Her removal from the UN is long overdue," he added.
Similarly, the UN Watch NGO also welcomed Khalaf’s resignation and praised U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who earlier this week called on Guterres to "withdraw the report altogether."
"Guterres deserves credit for doing the right thing," said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.
"But there is no question that the initial moral voice here was that of U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley, and that it was U.S. leverage which prompted the UN to act," he added.
The ESCWA report concluded that “Israel has established an apartheid regime that systematically institutionalizes racial oppression and domination of the Palestinian people as a whole.”
The report was co-authored by former UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur, Richard Falk, who during his tenure repeatedly attacked Israel with expressions of hatred and disdain.
Falk in the past praised the Hamas terrorist organization and compared it to the French resistance during World War 2, and has also compared Israelis to Nazis.
UN Watch called on the British government to consider whether under law Falk should be expelled from the UK, where he is now lecturing, on account of his having been denounced three times by the UK government for racism.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)