NEW YORK (JTA) — The Conference of Presidents does not want the U.N. General Assembly president to participate in a Holocaust commemoration event.
Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann’s extremist rhetoric about Israel made his presence inappropriate at the Jan. 27 International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the U.S. Jewish community’s foreign policy umbrella group said in a statement issued Friday.
"Ambassador d’Escoto’s extreme anti-Israel statements violate the very essence of the Holocaust commemoration," the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations statement said. "This annual event, for which we all worked so hard, is of great significance and importance and should not be undermined or diminished. We would hope that Ambassador d’Escoto would choose not to be present so that the sacred intent of the commemoration is maintained."
B’nai B’rith International, in a similar call, cited d’Escoto’s calls for boycotts of Israel, his charges of Israeli "genocide" against the Palestinians and his claim that Israel was "crucifying" the Palestinians.
D’Escoto, a Nicaraguan diplomat, is also a Roman Catholic priest.`
