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UN exhibition on terror victims completely ignores Israelis, says Israel’s ambassador

Gilad Erdan described the UN as ‘morally corrupt and twisted’

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An exhibit titled "Memories" commemorating terror victims at the United Nations in New York in 2024. Credit: United Nations Visitors Centre.

When the United Nations (UN) marks International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to Victims of Terrorism on Wednesday, it will treat some victims as more equal than others, according to Gilad Erdan, the outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.

The Israeli envoy posted a video walkthrough — in Hebrew with English subtitles — of an exhibit about global terror victims at UN headquarters in New York, in a place where all visitors enter the building.

There are mentions of the September 11 terror attacks in 2001 and the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, as well as references to terror in Indonesia and Kenya. “But what’s missing?” Erdan asked.

“There’s not a single mention of any attack carried out by Palestinians against Israelis,” he said. “We are about to mark one year since the massacre and the largest terrorist attack against Jews and Israelis since the Holocaust. Yet the UN doesn’t think it needs to be displayed on its walls.”

There is a display of a “Palestinian victim,” which the UN exhibit identifies as occurring in “Palestine,” Erdan noted, “so that people might think she was harmed in Israel, but when you read the fine print, it turns out she was actually injured in an attack in New Zealand.”

The exhibition, Memories, which is on view until August 27, “aims to raise awareness about the human stories that lie at the heart of each victim and survivor of terrorism, as well as the long-lasting impact each terrorist attack has on its surviving victims,” according to the UN website.

“It also seeks to highlight the commonalities that connect victims across the world and to emphasise the importance of preventing terrorist attacks and the emergence of new victims,” it adds. “It is in connection with the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism (August 21).”

The Global Victims of Terrorism Support Programme of the Counter-Terrorism Center of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism organised the show, which the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism also endorsed, the UN website also said.

“There is no place more corrupt and morally twisted than the UN, and we must all unite to spread this message worldwide, demanding the closure and the dismantling of this organisation, and the establishment of a new body that truly represents noble values,” the ambassador said.

The United Nations Secretary General has been contacted for comment.

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