It looks like the screening of the anti-Israel film Miral at the UN General Assembly Hall is still set to take place tomorrow as planned. Today the Israeli government called on the UN to cancel the premiere:
In a statement, Israel accused the UN of making “a politicised decision” that showed “a lack of even-handedness”.
A UN spokesman denied a “political link” to the film, saying the General Assembly hall was “just a venue”.
“Several films have been shown at the UN,” spokesman Jean-Victor Nkolo added.
But Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Haim Waxman, said: “We are not aware of any other films with such contentious political content that have received this kind of endorsement from the president of the General Assembly.”
Yesterday, the American Jewish Committee sent a letter to the UN General Assembly president, Joseph Deiss, urging him to call off the screening.
Miral, which depicts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspective of a young Palestinian girl, has been criticized as exceptionally skewed and anti-Israel. Robert Fulford at the National Post has described the movie as “a piece of blatant propaganda.”
This decision of the UN General Assembly, which isn’t usually in the business of hosting movie premieres, is highly unusual, to say the least. But more than that, it’s a direct snub of Israel. The U.S. should join the Israelis in calling on the UN to cancel the screening.
