An official of the "International Movement for the Defense of Children - Palestine", a non-governmental organization, confirmed on Friday that Belgium has revised an invitation sent to one of the movement's officials to deliver a speech at the UN Security Council, due to pressure exerted by the Israeli government, which led him to refrain from going to United nations.
Belgium, as the rotating president of the UN Security Council, Brad Parker, an organization official, called for a speech before the council, but Israel considered it very biased and summoned Belgian diplomats to protest the invitation.
The organization asserts that it is defending the rights of children in the occupied Palestinian territories, but the Israeli authorities accuse it of their boards of directors having in the past included members associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Israel, the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization.
Israel specifically accuses Parker, an official in the non-governmental organization in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, of posting "anti-Israel content" on social media.
Serious violations
For his part, Parker told the French press that he would not go to the UN Security Council after a change in the nature of the discussions that he was supposed to attend, saying that "the Belgian government turned the meeting into consultations in closed session, which means that I will not speak."
"We had intended to make an announcement based on evidence to reveal the serious violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories, from 2014 to the end of 2019," he added. "It is disappointing that the political situation contributes to silencing our voice," he added.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman described Parker as "known for his extremist stances against Israel."
Israel's ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, Emmanuel Nahshon, wrote on Twitter earlier this month that Parker's invitation had caused "useless tension ... that could have been easily avoided."
In February, Israel summoned the acting Belgian ambassador to Pascal Boven, twice, for a reprimand session, against the backdrop of his country's call for a prominent human rights activist.
Belgium responded to Tel Aviv similarly, recalling the latter's ambassador to Brussels on February 11 for reprimand.