Yehuda Blum, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, expressed “profound regret and vigorous protest” of the fact that the United Nations Information Center in Harare, Zimbabwe was used recently for the display of an anti-Jewish exhibition by the Palestine Liberation Organization.
In a letter to Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, Blum said that among the pictures at the exhibition, held January 16-20, was one showing “Christ on the Cross after being killed by the Jews,” according to “The Herald” newspaper of Harare. According to the same report, Blum added, “drawings of skeletons and skulls portraying the Israelis’ blood-lust were also displayed.”
Noting that the office of the Secretary General had already informed him that “the UN Information Centre in Harare had no official involvement with this exhibition” and that it only “responded to a request from the Government of Zimbabwe that the UN premises in Harare be made available for the purpose of this PLO exhibition, “Blum said he hoped all measures would be taken to prevent a recurrence of incidents of this kind.
He added that he hoped that the UN will “henceforth scrupulously observe its own guideline for exhibitions, which inter alia include the injunction that ‘due regard should be paid to the sensitivities of Member States’.”
Blum concluded by demanding that the UN c cease “countenancing in any form” manifestations of anti-Semitism, racism, and religious discrimination.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
