Venezuelan Envoy Apologizes for Holocaust Slur

Condemnations and insults are regular fare for Israel at the U.N., but Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon has received a rare apology, from the Venezuelan envoy, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The Latin American diplomat Rafael Ramírez called Danon over the weekend to say he was sorry for asking if Israel sought a “final solution” against the Palestinian people during a speech at an informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council Friday afternoon.

At the meeting, which discussed the proposition that the Palestinians need international protection, Ramirez said that Security Council members should ask themselves: “What does Israel plan to do with the Palestinians? Will they be disappeared? Does Israel seek probably to wage a final solution sort of solution as was perpetrated against the Jews?”

The United States, France and the United Kingdom condemned the comment.

Danon accused Ramirez of “clear anti-Semitism…and a direct continuation to the Palestinian representative’s statement a few days ago comparing Israel to the Nazis.”

However, according to the Israeli mission at the U.N., Danon told Ramirez that a personal call was not sufficient, and demanded a public apology for the publicly delivered slur.