Doug Armand / Getty Images United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Commission of Inquiry [COI] member Miloon Kothari wrote a letter apologizing for his “Jewish lobby” comments that were criticized as being antisemitic.
The letter, dated August 4, featured Kothari expressing “regret” and that he would like to “unequivocally apologize” for his use of the term during an interview with the anti-Israel site Mondoweiss. “My intention was to denounce the relentless and vitriolic personal attacks against the members of the Commission on social media and some publications, launched to delegitimize and undermine its work,” Kothari wrote. “It was completely wrong for me to describe social media as ‘being controlled largely by the Jewish lobby.’ This choice of words incorrect, inappropriate, and insensitive.”
Kothari also stated that his other comment in the Mondoweiss interview questioning Israel’s membership in the U.N. was meant to focus on Israel’s “non-compliance” with “UN decisions related to its obligations under international law.” “At no place in the interview did I question the existence of the State of Israel,” he wrote. “On the contrary, throughout the interview I have defended the existence of the State of Israel. This is fully consistent with the position of the Commission.” Kothari reiterated his apology toward the end of his letter. “I have always condemned discrimination in all its forms, including through antisemitism, and I do so again now.”
BREAKING: Condemned by the world for antisemitism, UNHRC commissioner Miloon Kothari's non-apology apology letter argues his remarks were not antisemitic but only “perceived and experienced” to be such. “I have always condemned discrimination in all its forms.” What a scoundrel. https://t.co/iZ2SFsfISs pic.twitter.com/v8cKsLiW61
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 4, 2022
Jewish groups did not accept Kothari’s apology.
“Kothari’s ‘apology’” for his #antisemitic and outlandish anti-Israel statements is too little too late,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted. “It underscores the inherent bias of the COI—both its mandate and makeup. For the @UN_HRC to maintain any semblance of integrity, it must immediately dismantle the COI.”
Kothari’s “apology” for his #antisemitic and outlandish anti-Israel statements is too little too late. It underscores the inherent bias of the COI—both its mandate and makeup. For the @UN_HRC to maintain any semblance of integrity, it must immediately dismantle the COI. https://t.co/nnI0X0p9sI
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) August 4, 2022
B’nai Brith International tweeted that they are reiterating their call to remove “prejudiced members” from the commission.
Member of U.N. commission of inquiry – whose members all held shrill anti-Israel positions in advance – expresses regret for anti-Jewish comments while again claiming "personal attacks" on him.
We reiterate what we told the @UN_HRC head: Prejudiced commissioners must be removed.
— B'nai B'rith Intl. (@BnaiBrith) August 4, 2022
UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said in a statement that he “rejects Mr. Kothari’s attempt to whitewash his use of a notorious antisemitic trope that throughout history has sparked deadly pogroms and worse, and his literal questioning of Israel’s membership in the UN. His request for the president of the Human Rights Council to ‘enable and protect’ the inquiry should be turned down.”
Neuer added: “Mr. Kothari is the first UN investigator in the history of the United Nations to be called out for antisemitism by the head of the Human Rights Council, the Secretary General, together with Britain, France, Germany, the US and 14 other countries. He has disgraced the council, and cast a shadow upon the United Nations as a whole. That Mr. Kothari is clinging to his post after he obliterated any semblance of the impartiality legally required for a UN investigator, shows that is also without self-awareness or shame.”
Emmanuel Nashon, Deputy Director General for Public Diplomacy at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, tweeted: “The so-called apology of COI member Miloon Kothari is a pitiful and unconvincing maneuver, which does not cover up for a long record of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic statements by him and the other COI members. They should immediately resign.”
.@UN_HRC–
The so-called apology of COI member Miloon Kothari is a pitiful and unconvincing maneuver, which does not cover up for a long record of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic statements by him and the other COI members.
They should immediately resign. @IsraelinGeneva— Emmanuel Nahshon (@EmmanuelNahshon) August 4, 2022
Canadian U.N. Ambassador Bob Rae tweeted, “For the past ten days the [COI] Chair defended the remarks saying they were ‘taken out of context’. The Commission was biased from the outset. Everything since then, including this ‘clarification’ only confirms it.”
There is a well known legal concept “apprehension of bias”. For the past ten days the Chair defended the remarks saying they were “taken out of context”. The Commission was biased from the outset. Everything since then, including this “clarification” only confirms it. https://t.co/ETOZMQBoj0
— Bob Rae (@BobRae48) August 4, 2022
Human rights lawyer and International Legal Forum head Arsen Ostrovsky tweeted that Kothari’s “non-apology is entirely meaningless and predictable” and “came after almost 20 countries condemned him and a staggering 10 days after he made the initial remarks. Does it really take someone that long to recognize that saying ‘the Jewish Lobby’ controls the media is abhorrent, racist and antisemitic?”
“It is also telling it came after almost 20 countries condemned him and a staggering 10 days after he made the initial remarks. Does it really take someone that long to recognize that saying “the Jewish Lobby” controls the media is abhorrent, racist and antisemitic?”
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— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) August 4, 2022
NGO Monitor Founder Gerald M. Steinberg tweeted that Kothari’s “heinous antisemitism” is “not erased by a cut & paste ‘I’m sorry (that I got caught); my words were misunderstood’ letter. The COI was a disgrace from the beginning – it must be disbanded now.”
The heinous #antisemitism of Miloon Kothari and the @UN_HRC "commission of inquiry" is not erased by a cut & paste "I'm sorry (that I got caught); my words were misunderstood" letter. The COI was a disgrace from the beginning – it must be disbanded now.https://t.co/jJnQnB7wKA
— Prof Gerald M Steinberg (@GeraldNGOM) August 4, 2022
The commission is investigating the conflict between Israel and Hamas that occurred in May 2021.
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