Shalhevet H.S. protests bias at UN

A protest to bring attention to the recent slanderous tweet of a UN employee will be the focus of a rally at the UN to be held this Thursday by Shalhevet High School for Girls.

Khulood Badawi, the national officer in Jerusalem for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) posted a photo of a limp and bloody girl in a man’s arms with the caption “Palestine is bleeding. Another child killed by Israel. Another father carrying his child to a grave in Gaza.” The message claimed that the girl died in an Israeli airstrike the day before but Israel discovered that the photo was taken and published in 2006 by Reuters who reported then that the girl had died in an accident.

OCHA claims to be unbiased but hired Badawi in spite of her known pro-Palestinian record. Her account login is “Long live Palestine.” She is an Arab with Israeli citizenship.

Israel’s UN ambassador Ron Prosor called on OCHA to fire Badawi for her anti-Israel activity, noting that she violated articles 100 and 101 of the UN Charter. He explained that she demonized Israel, a UN member, and her message inflames and adds “conflict” and “ultimately, violence.”

“We are calling on the UN to fire her!” said Rambam’s Rosh Mesivta Rabbi Zev Friedman, in an email.

Shalhevet, the sister school of Rambam Mesivta, is located in North Woodmere. Both schools are activist schools often initiating and participating in pro-Israel rallies and anti-Nazi rallies.

This rally will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 29th at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at the UN. “It is being organized by the school and it is mainly for Shalhevet students, though anyone who is interested is welcome to join us,” said Mrs. Esther Eisenman, principal of Shalhevet.