JERUSALEM (JTA) — The U.N. agency employee who tweeted an incendiary photo during recent violence between Gaza and Israel will stay on the job during an internal investigation.
The March 10 tweet by Khulood Badawi, the information and media coordinator for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jerusalem, showed a dead blood-covered Palestinian girl in the arms of her father who Badawi said had been killed by Israel. It turned out to be a 2006 Reuters photo and the girl had died in a playground or car accident, according to various reports, including information supplied by the news agency.
U.N. emergency coordinator Valerie Amos, replying to a letter from Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, calling for Badawi’s immediate dismissal, said the opinions expressed in Badawi’s Twitter account do not reflect the views of her agency and are not endorsed by the agency. Amos said Badawi will remain employed by the agency during an internal investigation, Fox reported.
"She was not killed by Israeli forces," Prosor wrote to Amos.
Badawi has neither retracted nor apologized for her inaccurate tweet.
According to Fox News, which obtained a copy of the Prosor letter, the envoy said that Badawi’s actions not only “violate conduct expected of a UN official,” but she also “actively engaged in the demonization of Israel, a member state of the United Nations. Such actions contribute to incitement, conflict and, ultimately, violence.”
"Although Ms. Badawi’s portrayal of this photo was clearly a blatant falsehood, her post became the top tweet for anything related to Gaza on Twitter," Prosor added.
Badawi in her tweet wrote "Palestine is bleeding … another child killed by #Israel … another father carrying his child to a grave in #Gaza."
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