HA'ARETZ EDITOR SLAMS ISRAEL AT U.N.

Ha'aretz editor slams Israel at U.N. conference (JTA)
The Arab affairs editor for the Israeli newsaper Ha'aretz, Danny Rubenstein, told participants at a United Nations conference in Brussels Thursday that Israel is an apartheid state.

"Today Israel is an apartheid state with different status for different communities," Rubenstein said, according to observers at the event, which is being held at the Euroepan Parlaiment. Observers also quoted Rubenstein, a prominent columnist and member of the newsaper's editorial board, as saying: "Hamas won the election of the international community and Israel cannot ignore that."

Rubenstein was one of the few Israelis speaking among a sea of Palestinean activists at a United Nations conference entitled "International conference of Civil Society in support of Israeli-Palestine conflict."

The conference, say some attendees and Israel advocacy groups, is merely a smokescreen for anti-Israel rhetoric by the United Nations committee for Palestinean rights, which has a long history of attacking Israel and blaming all Palestinean woes on Israelis.