Calls for UAE, Bahrain not to share platform with Israeli Nakba denier

Over 100 Muslim scholars and organisations in Britain have signed an open letter calling upon the ambassadors of the UAE and Bahrain to demand they withdraw from sharing a platform with a Nakba denier, Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli Ambassador.

The three ambassadors are due to share a virtual platform today as part of an event being held as a result of the ongoing normalisation of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

In a statement, the signatories said: “While normalising political relations with a colonial racist power remains imprudent. The sharing of a platform with Hotovely, who has been described as a racist and denies the right of Palestine, is supporting the violation of Palestinian human rights.  By sharing a platform with Hotovely, the UAE and Bahrain are not only normalising political relations but promoting racism and colonialism.”

The letter reads: Withdraw from platform with Tzipi Hotovely

To the Ambassadors: Mansoor Abulhoul of UAE and Sheikh Fawaz Al-Khalifa of Bahrain

We are gravely concerned to learn you are due to share a platform with the Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely on 15 December in London. We wish to bring to your attention Hotovely has denied that the Palestinians are under occupation and she refers to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria. She is quoted in The Independent Newspaper as saying “I deny the idea of occupation. This is Judea and Samaria”.

The Guardian Newspaper highlighted that she refers to herself as “a religious rightwinger” and rejects Palestinian claims to any part of the West Bank, Gaza or East Jerusalem. According to Na’amod, an organisation of British Jews against occupation, Hotovely “is a racist” who denies Palestinians equal rights.

Her appointment as the Ambassador resulted in 800 British Jews signing a petition calling on the UK government to reject her nomination as ambassador. In a public speech Hotovely also referred to the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1947-8 as a lie. Sharing a platform with such a controversial figure signals your support for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and racism.

We the undersigned Muslim scholars and organisations call upon you to withdraw from sharing a platform with Tzipi Hotovely.

READ: Normalisation and a ‘regional solution’ are back on the agenda