Cop26, “excluded” disabled Israeli minister: apologies arrive from the UK government

Cop26, Israeli minister with disabilities “excluded” because in a wheelchair: it is a shower of apologies from the British government

A fool that would have been better avoided. Yesterday, the Israeli Minister of the Environment Karine Elharrar she had failed to participate in the Cop26 of Glasgow why the conference it was inaccessible to wheelchair users.

For two hours, according to the minister’s office, the organizers of the Cop26 they prevented Elharr, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, to enter the compound with the vehicle in which she arrived. She was then offered to use a shuttle but it turned out to be unsuitable for wheelchair users. At this point a Elharr all that remains is to return to his hotel in Edinburgh.

“It was a scandalous conduct and it shouldn’t have happened,” he denounced Elharr adding that he could not achieve the goals of his trip to Glasgow. The British Ambassador to Israel, Neil Wigan, in a tweet he apologized to the minister for the incident while Bennett has arranged that the car of the Elharr be part of its official convoy so that it can easily reach the central area of ​​the summit.

However, an official apology also came from the British Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries, George Eustice, against the Israeli disabled colleague, forced to renounce her participation in the Glasgow CoP26 on climate due to a disservice of the organization of the event that caused a sensation and outrage, in Israel and beyond.

“We deeply apologize for this incident,” said the minister Eustice at the Bbc, after that Elharrar was invited as a remedial act to also participate in today’s face-to-face, on the sidelines of the climate conference, between the British and Israeli prime ministers, Boris Johnson And Naftali Bennett, in addition to being received by the number two of the Foreign Office, James Cleverly.

“We would never have found ourselves in this situation if Israel had communicated these particular needs to us”, he also tried to justify himself Eustice; not without admitting in any case that “obviously something went wrong” in the organization.