Last week, Gilad Erdan -- UN ambassador of Israel -- was detained by UN security after he protested against Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, the Butcher of Tehran, who was addressing the General Assembly.
Raisi earned his nickname for his participation in the Death Committee which oversaw the execution of up to 5,000 Iranian political prisoners in 1988. Last year, a Swedish Court sentenced an Iranian citizen, who participated in those same executions, to life imprisonment for war crimes and murder.
Erdan was the only ambassador to protest Raisi's appearance. And it was hard to miss him.
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The poster is a picture of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the Iranian government police last year for failing to wear a hijab. She died under suspicious circumstances in a hospital on September 16, 2022.
Erdan got the poster from Hamid Charkhkar, a college professor protesting outside of the UN:
I had a sign with Mahsa Amini's picture on it, saying 'Iranian women deserve freedom now.' To our surprise, Israel's UN Ambassador, Gilad Erdan, walked up to our protest, clearly showing support for our cause."
Charkhkar added “He was drawn to my sign and asked if he could take a photo of it. Later, we saw on Twitter that he held my sign during Raisi's UN speech. I want to thank Ambassador Erdan. He helped raise the voices of Mahsa and many young Iranian youth who suffered under the Islamic regime in Iran.
Not only did the UN grant a genocidal monster like Raisi the status of a world statesman, but it treated the ambassador of the country that Raisi’s regime aims to wipe off the map like a criminal.
The specific rules and protocols regarding the conduct of security personnel at the United Nations, especially when it comes to dealing with diplomats and ambassadors, may not be explicitly stated in publicly available documents. Many of these protocols and guidelines are established through customary diplomatic practice, international law, and internal UN security procedures. They are typically not disclosed in detail to the public for security reasons. [emphasis added]
The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving State shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity. [emphasis added]
The UN may be keeping it's own protocols for security under wraps, but there is clearly reason to question the violation of Erdan's diplomatic status. And the UN owes an explanation.
Unfortunately, Israel did not see it in its interest to make more of an issue out of this.
But Ambassador Erdan did get in the last word:
“Shabbat Shalom. Let’s see the UN security guards try remove me from the hall with this sign!”
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 22, 2023
Epic from @giladerdan1!pic.twitter.com/JyinhQ4ntI
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