Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan was escorted out of the U.N. General Assembly for protesting the speech of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a move rebuked by former U.S. Ambassador Ric Grenell on Newsmax.
"The U.N. should be well aware that someone like the Israeli ambassador is going to do something when a head of state from Iran is speaking," Grenell, the Trump administration's U.S. ambassador to Germany, told Wednesday's "Newsline." "Certainly the head of state of Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map, so in a real world there would be more than just the Israeli ambassador protesting."
Protesting a hostile foreign power in New York City should not illicit such a "dumb" response, antithetical to the freedom of speech, Grenell told host Bianca de la Garza.
"Certainly we see senior diplomats get up and walk out, but to have him somehow escorted out with security is really, I think, a dumb move by the U.N.," Grenell said.
"This is not somebody who needs to be escorted out. He's a fantastic ambassador. And you know, you can just tell him to take the sign down or allow him his moment and to move on, but it's silly."
Grenell was speaking just after Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a public meeting with President Joe Biden, something that should have happened at the White House, according to Grenell.
"This is a very awkward meeting," he said. It should have been taking place at the White House. It's not. Joe Biden has snubbed the Israeli leader, and that's unacceptable.
"We should see them in a more warm setting."
Also, Grenell added, it was embarrassing for the U.S. president to need notes to just share the fundamental U.S. diplomatic policy of support for Israel.
"But look at Joe Biden, if you replay that audio Bianca, you'll see Joe Biden, glancing down in his lap two notes," Grenell lamented. "He's reading notes that say something along the lines of, 'you know, the U.S.-Israeli relationship is strong and solid and unique and, you know, amazing.'
"But he's reading it. Netanyahu doesn't have notes. Joe Biden is having to read the basic principles of the relationship between the United States and Israel. I think it's a real sad moment."
At the same time in Washington, D.C., Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland was showing why he should have never been a candidate for the Supreme Court, Grenell concluded.
"Listening to him not be transparent and kind of say the same thing over and over, sounding really robotic just makes me think thank God he's not on the Supreme Court," Grenell said. "I can't imagine this guy trying to decide cases at the highest level of the United States government. It is a really good thing that he's not there.
"As the head of the Justice Department right now, he's wreaking havoc, because he seems very political, very robotic, and extremely focused on protecting Joe Biden."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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