Jerusalem – UNESCO has reprimanded Israel over a newspaper cartoon showing the Israeli prime minister telling pilots to bomb the U. N. agency’s office after bombing Iran, a spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Friday.
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The U.N.’s Paris-based cultural arm called in Israel’s ambassador, Nimrod Barkan, on Wednesday and handed him a protest note saying the cartoon “endangers the lives of unarmed diplomats,” according to the Israeli spokesman, Yigal Palmor.
The note came from the organization’s director-general, Irina Bokova, he said. Officials at UNESCO in Paris were not immediately available for comment Friday.
The cartoon was published last week in the liberal daily Haaretz, known for its criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government.
It depicts Netanyahu and his defense minister briefing pilots before a hypothetical attack on Iran, telling them to target UNESCO’s office in the West Bank on their way back.
The cartoon was a jab at Netanyahu’s policies and his displeasure over the U.N. culture agency’s recent recognition of the Palestinians as a member state. The recognition led U.S., Canada and Israel to cut off funding to the agency.
The reprimand reflects an apparent misunderstanding of the cartoon — which was aimed at Netanyahu, not at UNESCO.
Palmor said the Israeli ambassador responded by telling UNESCO his country has a free press.
“We’ve heard of Islamists raging against supposedly disrespectful cartoons, but U.N. officials going down the same road — that’s a whole new ballgame,” Palmor said.
On Thursday, UNESCO said it would not undertake new projects this year as it decides how to respond to the funding cutoffs following the move to recognize the Palestinians last month.
The U.S. typically provides one-fifth of the agency’s annual budget — some $80 million, three-quarters of which has not yet been handed over and which will now remain unpaid.
UNESCO protects heritage sites and works to improve literacy, access to schooling for girls and cultural understanding.
did UNESCO ever call or condemn any of the anti semitic cartoons in Arab countries, were the press are government owned? I do not thibnk so
so got fly a kite and crawl back were you came from UNESCO
Aha, so that’s their job. I always wondered what UNESCO does.
What a shame more countries didn’t cut their funding.
Let UNESCO reprimand the Palestinans for their anti-Semitic cartoons.
Where has UNESCO been with all of the anti-semitic cartoons being published?
Oh! Never mind.
Why not the UN is used a personal agents of the plo. They use their ambulances to kidnap soldiers into Lebanon
Why are there Jewish people named Nimrod?
I love the cartoon!
Had the cartoon had a turban it would’ve been fine.
perhaps I am missing something here , but isn’t Haaretz a private enterprise? why reprimand the Israeli gov’t. ?
Apparently, as the article states, UNESCO is takeing their que from Muslim extreists that riot over cartoons that they find offensive.
Hello? This is nothing other than an embarrassment to UNESCO. With such strong and blantant anti-Israel bias, they can’t even detect a pro-left anti-Israel message. Reminds me of a time in yeshiva when some kid, for fun, spread the word that another kid (a “nerd”) brought smoke bombs to yeshiva. He was called out by the principal and threatened. Good thing he had a sense of humor,
They are fools, because the paper is taking a stab at netanyahu’s antiUNESCO policy and they dont even get it…