Hadash chairman MK Ayman Odeh met on Friday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through mediation with the Palestinian Authority, to deliver an official appeal to the UN Human Rights Commission against Israeli authorities, who he claims do not provide protection for Arab citizens in Israel, Channel 12 News reported.

Odeh planned the visit and meeting with the senior officials of the PA and with the approval of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and did not inform the Israeli Foreign Ministry or the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, that the meeting will be taking place.

Odeh told the UN Secretary-General, according to the report, "Erdan does not represent us, he is racist toward the Arab citizens. He is part of the problem and not the solution."

At the conclusion of the meeting, he stated, "I left an important meeting with the UN Secretary-General, we are fed up with false promises. Gilad Erdan, Israel's Ambassador to the UN, is not our address. He was the Minister of Police and was the most racist minister. He does not represent us, we represent ourselves. I am returning to Israel to renew the fight against violence and crime among the Arab population. For us, this is another place for influence in the UN."

This is not the first time that Arab MKs have bypassed official Israeli channels and met with UN officials in order to badmouth Israel.

In 2018, a delegation of Arab MKs held a series of meetings at the United Nations Human Rights Council as part of their efforts against the Nationality Law, which Arabs have decried as racist. The delegation met with the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as with several other UN officials.

Odeh has often stirred controversy with anti-Israel statements. Earlier this year, he called on young Arabs not to enlist in the "occupation army". Following backlash, he claimed his remarks were mistranslated.

Last year, Otzma Yehudit chairman MK Itamar Ben Gvir called on the Attorney General to investigate Odeh, after Odeh wrote in a Facebook post, "If six prisoners managed to break through the narrow and crowded prison, then millions of the Palestinian people can stop the occupation - so that the people will be freed and the prisoners will be released."

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)