Following the vote on the sixth out of nine resolutions adopted against Israel by the United Nations on Thursday, the interpreter translating the vote to English, unaware her microphone was still on, was caught calling the repeated resolutions about Israel excessive.
“I mean, I think when you have five statements, not five, like a total of ten resolutions on Israel and Palestine, there’s gotta be something, c’est un peu trop, non? [It’s a bit much, no?] I mean I know. … There’s other really bad stuff happening, but no one says anything, about the other stuff,” the translator was heard saying, followed by uncomfortable, awkward laughter in the room.
The meeting’s secretary was quick to speak into the microphone, saying, “I understand there was a problem with interpretation?”
The interpreter then apologized for her remark.
The comment came following the vote on a resolution that “demands that Israel accept the de jure applicability of the [Geneva] Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, and that it comply scrupulously with the provisions of the Convention,” which passed with 160 in favour, six against and five abstentions in the U.N. General Assembly’s Fourth Committee.
A further three resolutions regarding Israel were passed later that day, all with similar vote counts.