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‘Shameful day,’ Israel mission says of Iran chairing UN social forum

“We are just without dignity right now when it comes to Iran,” said David Friedman, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel.

U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. Credit: Peter Stein/Shutterstock.
U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. Credit: Peter Stein/Shutterstock.

When Iran chairs the social forum of the U.N. Human Rights Council starting on Nov. 5, it will be “another dark day” at the council, said Israel’s permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva.

Israel pointed out that Tehran is set to lead the forum “three weeks after backing and celebrating the butchering of 1,400 women, men and children in Israel, and the kidnapping of 240 people by Hamas terrorists.”

“This shameful decision further discredits the Human Rights Council and the United Nations as a whole,” stated the mission. It noted that “Iran leaves its deadly footprint around the world,” and its regime “has been responsible for some of the worst human-rights violations across the world in the past decades.”

The forum, which takes place this year on Nov. 2-3 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva and online, “will focus on the contribution of science, technology and innovation to the promotion of human rights, including in the context of post-pandemic recovery,” according to the U.N. website.

The annual meeting, which the Human Rights Council convenes, is a space for “interactive dialogue between civil society, representatives of member states, and intergovernmental organizations, on a theme chosen by the council each year,” it added.

Tehran was named as chair of this year’s social forum just days after Iran executed two men for blasphemy.

“Iran is delivering to the United States right now a massive national insult. I mean, we are just without dignity right now when it comes to Iran,” said David Friedman, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, on Fox and Friends. “Now they’re the head of the Human Rights Council? I mean, this is outrageous.”

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