Libya stands by comparison of Nazi concentration camps, Gaza
Friday, May 2nd, 200830/4/08
Libya stands by its United Nation envoy’s comparison of the plight of Palestinians in Gaza to the Holocaust and deplores a walkout by Western diplomats in protest at the comments, official Libyan media reported on Wednesday. Libya’s Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of France, Belgium and Britain and the U.S. charge d’affaires and asked them to explain the April 23 walkout at the UN Security Council, the Jana news agency reported. Western UN envoys walked out of a Council discussion that day after a Libyan diplomat likened the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to the Nazi Holocaust. “The Libyan representative at the Security Council was right to express the stance of his country,” Jana quoted Abdelatti Abidi, head of the ministry’s European Affairs department, as saying. Among the diplomats who left the council chamber were the U.S., French, British, Belgian and Costa Rican envoys, diplomats have said. Some others remained. Such protests against fellow Security Council members are rare, diplomats said.
