Israel's UN Envoy Slams General Assembly President for Wearing Palestinian Flag Scarf

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon took the president of the General Assembly to task for alleged bias for wearing a scarf decorated with the Palestinian flag at a session marking International Solidarity Day with the Palestinian People.

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Tuesday's observance coincided with the November 29 anniversary of the 1947 General Assembly Palestine partition resolution in support approval in the creation of a Jewish state and an Arab state in British-ruled Palestine.

"It is unfortunate that the @UN_PGA chose to wear the Palestinian flag at an event whose sole purpose was to slander Israel," Danon tweeted after the session, referring to General Assembly President Peter Thomson of Fiji. Danon called the session "a cynical Israel-bashing festival."

In an effort to highlight what he claimed was continued Palestinian rejection of Israel, Danon held up a reproduction of The New York Times from the day after the 1947 UN resolution with a headline including the statement "Arabs walk out." Later on Twitter, Danon added: "This is the whole story."

At Tuesday's session, Thomson expressed support for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians based on Israel's 1967 borders.

For his part, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement that said in part: "Israeli and Palestinian leaders still voice their support for the two-state solution. However, without urgent steps to revive a political perspective, they risk entrenching a one-state reality.

"Recent years have witnessed two unsuccessful attempts at negotiating a peaceful settlement, three armed conflicts, thousands of dead – the vast majority of them Palestinian civilians – rampant incitement, terror attacks, thousands of rockets and bombs fired at Israel from Gaza, and an expanding, illegal Israeli settlement enterprise that risks undermining Israel’s democratic values and the character of its society."