Venezuelan envoy to UN apologizes to Danon over 'final solution' remarks

“What does Israel plan to do with the Palestinians? Will they be disappeared? Does Israel seek probably to wage a final solution sort of solution as was perpetrated against the Jews?”

By DANIELLE ZIRI
Updated: MAY 9, 2016 16:55
Danny Danon speaking at a WZO conference on Sunday (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Danny Danon speaking at a WZO conference on Sunday
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
NEW YORK - Venezuela’s envoy to the UN Rafael Ramírez called Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon over the weekend to apologize for his remarks asking if Israel sought a "final solution" against the Palestinian people during a speech at an informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council Friday afternoon.
At the meeting, which was held under the informal UN mechanism known as the Arria-Formula and discussed the Palestinian’s need for international protection, Ramirez said that members of the UN Security Council should ask themselves: “What does Israel plan to do with the Palestinians? Will they be disappeared? Does Israel seek probably to wage a final solution sort of solution as was perpetrated against the Jews?”
The comments had caused much controversy at the meeting itself. Both the United States and the United Kingdom as well as a representative of the Israeli NGO Yesh Din spoke out against it at the meeting itself.
According to the Israeli mission at the UN, during the phone call, Ambassador Danon demanded that Ramirez issue a public apology. The Venezuelan representative may choose to do so at the next Security Council’s meeting on the Middle East this week.