Palestinian envoy wears 'end apartheid' mask as he calls out Israel during UN meeting

Riyad Mansour called on Security Council to protect 'long-suffering people'

Riyad Mansour, Palestine's envoy to the UN, used the word 'apartheid' 15 times during a Security Council meeting on Wednesday. AFP

Palestine's envoy to the UN wore a black mask adorned with the phrase “end apartheid” in an attempt to urge the Security Council to stop Israel from discriminating against Palestinians.

Speaking at a monthly meeting on the Middle East in New York on Wednesday, Riyad Mansour called on the council to protect “our long-suffering people”, and used the word “apartheid” 15 times.

“This council may not be ready to use the word but apartheid is, and has been, for a while now, our reality,” said the Palestinian envoy.

“Israel may be outraged by the word [but] everyone else should be outraged by the policy. Condemnations alone will never suffice to deter Israel. It is time to translate your words into actions. Actions to end apartheid.”

In his own address, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, did not acknowledge the Palestinian's accusations.

Instead, he focused on Hamas, urging the council to recognise the group as a “radical terror organisation” for “deliberately targeting civilian populations, all in the name of advancing the destruction of the State of Israel".

“Countries all around the world have recognised Hamas as the terror organisation that it is, but sadly, this council has failed to do so,” he said.

The Israeli ambassador criticised the use of the word apartheid after the meeting, describing it as “a joint campaign between 'human rights organisations' and the Palestinians with the mission of delegitimising Israel as a Jewish democratic state".