Thank you Mister Chair.

During the past three months, Director-General Dr. CHAN tried to de-politicize the agenda of the WHA by erasing this annual decision, which singles out one country and one country only - the State of Israel. We responded positively to her initiative and fully engaged with the assessment team that was sent to the Palestinian Territories. In order to show goodwill and facilitate a comprehensive report and a short technical decision to be adopted by consensus, we agreed to the Director-General's request, for the first time ever, to conduct a field assessment of health conditions in the Golan Heights.

 

However, the Palestinians – not surprisingly – compromised the technical decision proposed by Director-General CHAN with politicized language and controversial issues. This is why we are gathered here, yet again, and for the second time today, to go through the shameful ritual of misusing a professional UN platform to serve political interests, and to witness this theater of the absurd glorifying the bias against Israel.

As for the part in the Director-General's original comprehensive report dealing with the Golan Heights, it was blocked from publication because of the Syrian pressure. Its conclusions shed a positive light on Israel’s excellent health services in the Golan and Israel’s medical treatment of injured Syrian civilians fleeing from the Syrian bloodshed. 

The WHO, rather than standing up to a brutal regime which massacres its own people, decided to hide this report from the public eye, to change its own report and to omit completely the practical recommendations which it presented. Israel has made many reservations regarding assessment reports over the years but these were never raised as an obstacle to the publication of any report.

Let me be clear - the discussion here today is not about health. If it were about improving the health conditions of the Palestinian people, we would have focused on the WHO's recommendations and not waste the organization's valuable resources on this cynical discussion. Enough is enough – let's bring sanity back to this organization, for the benefit of all. Let's deal with the real health and humanitarian emergencies, in our region and elsewhere in the world.

Mr. Chairman, 

Israel unequivocally rejects this draft decision and calls for a roll call vote.

I thank beforehand the Member States who will join us in rejecting this decision. I deeply regret the decision of Member States to support the decision, for this sends a message to the Palestinians, the Syrians and others, that they can turn the WHO into their own playground.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.