UN secretary-general figures apartheid-Israel in UN report not worth the heat and pulls (this time)

"UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres requested the removal of a report accusing Israel of apartheid from the website of the UN body that published it, Reuters reported Friday, citing an unnamed official in the international body.

Guterres had previously distanced himself from the report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), which is comprised of 18 Arab countries...

The United States on Wednesday had demanded that the report be withdrawn altogether.

"The United States is outraged by the report," US Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement. "The United Nations secretariat was right to distance itself from this report, but it must go further and withdraw the report altogether."

Based in Beirut, ESCWA lists the state of Palestine as a full member, and works to strengthen cooperation and promote development.

"That such anti-Israel propaganda would come from a body whose membership nearly universally does not recognize Israel is unsurprising," said Haley.

Haley has accused the United Nations of being biased against Israel and has vowed as President Donald Trump's envoy to staunchly defend Israel at the world body..."