An anti-Israeli poster exhibition here was dismantled yesterday at the order of Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, following a strong Israeli protest. The exhibition of pro-Palestinian posters was sponsored by the Secretariat of the UN International Conference on the Question of Palestine, which is scheduled to take place in Geneva from August 29 to September 7.
De Cuellar announced his decision to dismantle the display, which was set in the public lobby of the UN headquarters, after Ambassador Yehuda Blum of Israel protested that the posters in the exhibition were not only anti-Israeli but anti-Semitic as well. Blum drew the attention of the Secretary General to one poster in particular that depicted a hammer smashing a Star of David, fashioned out of chains, on the background of the map of the State of Israel.
Israeli sources said that Blum conveyed his protest first in a telephone conversation with de Cuellar and later submitted the protest in an official letter.
The exhibit, which was scheduled to run until next Sunday and was opened on Tuesday, consisted of about 40 posters in several languages, published by the Palestine Liberation Organization and other Palestinian and pro-Palestinian groups.
The exhibit was cleared by the UN’s Exhibits Committee. The guidelines of the Committee include, among other provisions, the stipulation that “due regard should be paid to the sensitivities of UN member-states.” Israeli diplomats said today that the poster exhibition clearly did not meet this particular condition.
A UN spokesman said that the posters that were displayed are part of the personal collection of Daniel Walsh, a resident of Washington.
STATEMENT BY BLUM
In his letter of protest, which was circulated here today, Blum charged that the exhibition was “yet another manifestation of the misuse of UN funds, machinery and premises in the relentless campaign of vilification waged by the enemies of my country.” Blum also charged that “some member of the staff of the UN Secretariat have also gravely compromised the impartiality and integrity required of this organ of our organization.”
Blum noted, however, his “satisfaction” that the Secretary General “issued the necessary instruction for the immediate removal of the exhibition” as soon as he became “aware of this outrage.” But Blum added that the exhibition should not have taken place on the UN premises in the first place.
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