‘Reprehensible’: UN slams Israeli spokesman’s comments on UNRWA chief
Al Jazeera
Israeli government official calling Phillipe Lazzarini a ‘terrorist sympathiser’ also puts his safety at risk, UN says.
The United Nations has denounced an Israeli government spokesperson for calling the head of its agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) a “terrorist sympathiser”.
Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the comments by Israel’s David Mencer were “downright dangerous”.
Mencer took aim at UNRWA head Phillipe Lazzarini in a videotaped speech on Wednesday, saying his agency had been deeply infiltrated by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“Now if the UN was doing what it was designed to do, then Philippe Lazzarini should be one of the good guys, but he is not,” Mencer said.
“He [Lazzarini] is one of the bad guys. A terrorist sympathiser. A Jew-killing enabler. A liar.”
