Venezuela's U.N. Envoy Apologizes to Israel over 'Final Solution' Remarks
Venezuela's U.N. ambassador has apologized to Israel's envoy over remarks suggesting that Israel was seeking a "final solution" for the Palestinians, a U.N. spokesman said Thursday.
Ambassador Rafael Ramirez made the remarks during a Security Council informal meeting on Friday on the protection of Palestinians.
Ramirez, a former foreign minister, told senior U.N. official Edmond Mulet during a meeting on Wednesday that he regretted the "language" that he used, said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
He told Mulet, who is U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, that he had "personally apologized" to Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon, he said.
Ramirez stressed that "he stands against any form of anti-Semitism and fully respects the millions of victims of the Holocaust," Dujarric said.
The "final solution" refers to the Nazi plan to exterminate Jews during World War II.
One of the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council, Venezuela has been a strong supporter of Palestinian rights at the United Nations.
13 May 2016, 18:36
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He said he meant that Israel just wished that the Palestinians did not exist, so that it would be a land without people for a people without land. He said that people have a right to their dreams. He said that law should not stand in the way of people's dreams, since law itself is just a dream. He said that he had been warned that he should not speak freely, or his dream life would be cut short. He said that this was probably against the law but he did not want to find out.
