UN Adviser Goes Nuts

• Views: 3,797

Kofi Annan’s top adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi, is getting a little too honest about his hatred for Israel: A Top Kofi Annan Aide Insults Israeli Leader.

UNITED NATIONS - Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, yesterday urged that Secretary-General Annan fire his top adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi, for his anti-Israel tirades.

Mr. Brahimi recently likened Prime Minister Sharon to an assassin, adding to a series of statements that embarrassed the secretary-general, who is trying to position himself as a player in the peace process between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs.

In a phone call to a top U.N. official this week, Mr. Gillerman said that the latest anti-Israeli screed by Mr. Brahimi in Europe should be grounds for firing him, the ambassador told The New York Sun yesterday.

Speaking on Belgian radio and to the Belgian senate last week, Mr. Brahimi compared Mr. Sharon to an assassin, urged Europeans to increase their pressure on Israel, and said that the world is too accepting of “cynical and ridiculous” Israeli positions on peace with the Palestinian Arabs, according to a report by Agence France-Presse that was translated from the French.

Because Mr. Annan and many other top officials were out on vacation this week, Mr. Gillerman said he spoke with the head of the Asia-Pacific division, Geir Pederson, a Norwegian who is increasingly involved in issues related to the Middle East. He has asked Mr. Pederson to relay his message to Mr. Annan. A U.N. official who asked not to be named confirmed that the conversation took place, but refused to comment on it.

For the second time this month, a U.N. spokesman yesterday distanced Mr. Annan from Mr. Brahimi’s words, saying Mr. Brahimi spoke “in his personal capacity.” He added that Mr. Annan’s views on the Middle East “are well known.”

The U.N. issued a similar statement two weeks ago after Mr. Brahimi told an Arab audience that America professes to promote human rights in the Arab world while at the same time ignoring Israeli human rights violations.

Brahimi’s daughter Rym is also rather famous; she’s a CNN reporter married to the brother of Jordan’s King Abdullah: lgf: King Abdullah’s Brother To Wed CNN Reporter.

Jump to top

Create a PageThis is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). Then browse to a site you want to post, select some text on the page to use for a quote, click the bookmarklet, and the Pages posting window will appear with the title, text, and any embedded video or audio files already filled in, ready to go.
Or... you can just click this button to open the Pages posting window right away.
Last updated: 2023-04-04 11:11 am PDT
LGF User's Guide RSS Feeds

Help support Little Green Footballs!

Subscribe now for ad-free access!Register and sign in to a free LGF account before subscribing, and your ad-free access will be automatically enabled.

Donate with
PayPal
Cash.app
Recent PagesClick to refresh