Judy Shalom Nir Mozes, the wife of the Deputy Prime Minister and leading extreme-right Likud party figure Silvan Shalom, decided to step down of her position at the UN’s organization for children’s rights last week. The initiator of the recently launched campaign against Shalom Nir Mozes as Chairwoman of the Israeli branch of UNICEF, Ari Remez told communist weekly “Zo Haderekh” on Friday that “she was using the international position for her owns personal means.” She had been nominated to represent UNICEF in Israel two months ago and joined a sparkling list of celebrities who have been ambassadors of the organization in the past years including David Beckham, Sarah Jessica Parker and Shakira.

But during Operation “Pillar of Defense”, Shalom Nir Mozes sparked controversy after posting a few statuses on Facebook in support of the Israeli government taking murderous action in Gaza. “There is nothing I value more than human life,” she wrote on November 12th, “How is it possible to make peace with people whose children are fed hatred towards Israel from the moment they are born? How is it possible to make peace with people who have it in their DNA to hate us? I am willing to make real peace at any price. The problem is that there is no partner. I wish I was wrong.”

Judy Shalom Nir Mozes (Photo: IBA)

Another post followed two days later where she wrote: “I very much hope that Bibi [PM Binyamin Netanyahu] will not surrender to the pressures of our enemies and continue the operation until the last terrorist is murdered in Gaza.”

After the statements, Remez, who is a theater director from Haifa, along with a group of his friends, launched a social media campaign against Shalom Nir Mozes as a representative of UNICEF. “It didn’t seem appropriate for the representative of such an organization to say these things,” Remez told “Zu Haderech”, “Fulfilling an international position in an international organization such as this one and saying that you care only for your own children and two things that don’t work together.” “You cannot use children’s rights as a fashion accessory and she was exploiting a very just cause for her personal public relations needs,” he added.

Remez and his group sent multiple letters of complaint to UNICEF in Israel as well as to their headquarters in New York City, following which they received the following answer: “We have noted the personal comments and views by Judy Shalom Nir Mozes highlighted in a Facebook discussion thread and other media. These views do not represent the views of UNICEF.”

Related:
                http://maki.org.il/he/culture/129-news/14880  (in Hebrew)