The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the appointment of Israel as the head of an UN legal committee is a blatant disregard of international law.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon was approved as head of the Sixth Committee, which is in charge of sensitive legal issues. In a statement, the PA Foreign Ministry said it is looking at this appointment with “deep concern”.

Ma’an news agency stated that the ministry questioned how the Western European nations agreed on the nomination of the Israeli official while Israel has a “long history of violations of international law and international resolutions”.

As #UNGA71's elected Chair of the UN's Legal Committee,I’m Proud to be the 1st to Represent Israel in this Position pic.twitter.com/2JRYHU4nxQ

— Ambassador Danon (@dannydanon) June 13, 2016

The ministry further stated that this appears to be a “reward for Israel over its human rights violations.” It also accused them of “losing ethical authority to speak about international law, human rights principles and public freedoms”.

The PA stated that it is exerting many efforts on the international level to end this “sad farce”.

Danon received the approval of 109 UN member states after votes were conducted secretly due to the objection of Arab and Islamic states over his nomination.

(MA’AN, PC)