UN General Assembly head to 'Post:' I love Israel

UN General Assembly head claims he was slandered by suggestions that he hates Israel.

By ALLISON HOFFMAN, JPOST CORRESPONDENT IN NEW YORK
miguel descoto brockmann 224 88 ap (photo credit: AP [file])
miguel descoto brockmann 224 88 ap
(photo credit: AP [file])
The head of the UN General Assembly claims he was slandered by "irresponsible" suggestions that he hates Israel. President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, an ordained Catholic priest, told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview Tuesday that he loves Israel and believes the Jewish people "have suffered more perhaps in time than any other people." "I don't hate any country, but Israel I happen to love," d'Escoto said. The 75-year-old Nicaraguan, a former diplomat for the Sandinista government, has been sharply criticized in the past weeks for hugging Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad moments after he gave a speech to the UN in which he described Israel as a "cesspool." D'Escoto has also refused to condemn Ahmadinejad's comments that Israel be "wiped off the map." He told the Post he "did not like" the comments, but said he believed Iran's antipathy toward Israel stemmed not from anti-Semitism but from the political dispute over the Palestinian issue. "I don't pretend to be infallible, but I don't perceive that, for example, from Iran they would be anti-Jew," d'Escoto said. "That position of the Iranian government is on account of what they consider to be the bad treatment for the Palestinians." D'Escoto dodged questions on whether Iran's pursuit of a nuclear capability threatened Israel. He instead said he believed the US had "no moral authority" with regard to nuclear proliferation. "What I find to be not helpful is for a country, the country that possesses 95 percent of the weapons of mass destruction in the world, to be telling other people not to do it because you are a dangerous individual and you could be tempted to use it, when they are using it and they are the only ones who have used it," said d'Escoto, who was born and educated in the US. "We don't need their help." He reiterated his belief that the failure to resolve the question of Palestinian statehood was the single largest failure in UN history and said he hoped to draw on his religious background to help find a solution. "I speak as a person who comes from a country that has been victimized over the years," d'Escoto said. "I am asking everyone, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, whatever to tap the immense resources they have from their religious traditions and move forward in the direction of brotherhood and sisterhood." He cited plans for a meeting next month, called at the request of the Saudis, to continue an interfaith peace dialogue begun in Madrid in July, but also joked that perhaps he should call a religious retreat instead. "Maybe that's what we should do, organize a wonderful retreat, let us plunge into a retreat and pray together for a day, for a week, and at the end of it have some hot coffee and doughnuts and embrace one another," d'Escoto said. Israeli officials said d'Escoto should instead focus on the routine tasks of his role heading this year's General Assembly. "He should stick to the real chores of the GA president and not give a partisan point of view," said Ambassador Daniel Carmon, chargé d'affaires at the Israeli mission. "If he is a really good friend of Israel, he would criticize a [UN] member state for making comments that another state should be wiped off the map." Ambassador Gabriela Shalev, who said in September she felt d'Escoto was an "Israel-hater," was not available for comment because of Succot. A spokeswoman for the mission said Shalev would stick by her earlier comments regarding d'Escoto. In an earlier interview with the Post, Shalev said she felt d'Escoto had "hijacked" his position as General Assembly president by using it as a bully pulpit for his personal opinions. In his opening speech to the UN in September, d'Escoto made thinly veiled attacks on the US and other permanent members of the Security Council for "casually ignoring" the will of "95% of the organization's members."