OPM Says SVG Delegation Was Absent During Netanyahu Address, Leaves Walkout Position Unanswered
The clarification places Prime Minister Friday and his delegation outside the General Assembly Hall, but does not say whether the government supported the protest.
A clarification bearing the branding of the Office of the Prime Minister says Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday and the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines delegation were not in the United Nations General Assembly Hall when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the 81st session on Thursday, September 24. The statement does not say their absence was an act of protest or that SVG took part in the walkout that greeted the speech.
Scores of delegates left the chamber as Netanyahu approached the rostrum, in protest over Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. The Palestinian Mission to the United Nations had urged member states to bring staff to the hall and walk out collectively. Netanyahu responded by calling those who left “moral cowards.”
The OPM statement responds to social media comments suggesting that Friday and the Vincentian delegation remained in the hall while other delegations walked out.
“For clarity, the Prime Minister and the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines delegation were not in the General Assembly Hall during that address.”Office of the Prime Minister clarification
According to the clarification, members of the delegation were at the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations at the time, while Friday and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble were engaged in meetings elsewhere.
The statement describes any suggestion that the Prime Minister or the delegation remained in the hall during the address as incorrect.
What the statement does not say
The explanation draws a distinction between three separate circumstances: remaining in the chamber, leaving it in protest, and being absent because of other engagements. The statement places the Vincentian delegation in the third category. It does not describe a decision to boycott Netanyahu’s address.
Equally, a country’s absence from lists of walkout participants does not, by itself, establish that its representatives stayed in the hall. Any claim that they remained seated would require evidence of their presence.
The clarification therefore settles where the delegation says it was. It leaves a separate question open: what position did the government take on the protest, and what would its representatives have done had they been present?
That question was raised by Mikail Yusuf Muhammad in a comment beneath the statement.
“Is it possible to know the position the delegation WOULD have taken had the schedule permitted their presence?”Mikail Yusuf Muhammad, in a public comment
The statement does not address that question. Nor does it express support for or opposition to the walkout. Its explanation is confined to the delegation’s whereabouts and its rejection of claims that Vincentian representatives remained seated during the speech.
Absence alone cannot establish either support for Netanyahu or solidarity with those protesting his address. Both interpretations would go beyond what the statement says.
For Vincentians seeking clarity about their country’s diplomatic position, a further explanation would need to address whether the government supported the protest and whether any instructions were given to its representatives regarding attendance.
The account presented in the clarification is that the delegation was elsewhere on official engagements. Whether SVG would have joined the walkout remains unanswered.
Vincypowa News. Power to the People.