Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyadh Mansour, accused some states of using “bullying tactics and intimidation” within the international organisation, in an apparent reference to the US.
“It is our collective responsibility to do everything we can to defend the UN and what it stands for,” Mansour told reporters.
The remarks came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ meeting with a number of Arab ambassadors to the United Nations late on Wednesday.
We care about the UN and the secretary-general, and we do not accept methods that are not in the culture of the United Nations. You know by that what I mean — some people who are trying to inject bullying tactics and intimidation.
Mansour told reporters after the meeting.
Mansour said the meeting with the secretary-general came after ESCWA chief, Rima Khalaf, resigned and a report in which Israel is said to be an “apartheid state” was removed from the UN’s website.
Read: UN ESCWA chief resigns over report on apartheid Israel
The meeting was “not a pleasant experience for all of us”, but the conversation was “frank but warm”.
Guterres’ spokesman denied reports that he had come under pressure to remove the report from the Trump administration, claiming the report was issued without any consultation, inquiry or coordination with the United Nations Secretariat in New York.
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