Beersheba was Ottoman Palestinian town in 1917, UN rapporteur says, countering Herzog

By Berk Kutay Gokmen

ISTANBUL (AA) — UN special rapporteur Ben Saul on Monday challenged Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s claim that Beersheba was linked to Israel in 1917, saying the town was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time and later allocated to a Palestinian state under a UN plan.

“The history that connects our nations, Australia and Israel, is a history of ANZACs liberating Beersheba, of offering refuge to survivors of the Shoah,” Herzog said in Sydney at the start of a five-day visit to Australia, which has drawn thousands of protesters demanding accountability over genocide in Gaza.

ANZAC refers to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, which fought under the British Empire in World War I against the Central Powers notably the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East.

“Today the Israeli President falsified history," Saul, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, said on US social media company X.

He said: “In 1917, Beersheba was an Arab town in the Ottoman Empire. Later, the UN partition plan for British Palestine allocated it to a Palestinian State. Israel took it anyway, then depopulated the Palestinians."

Herzog was addressing a crowd at Sydney's International Convention Centre, saying that the ties between Canberra and Tel Aviv "are bound by this history, by decades of close friendship, by this outstanding Jewish community," according to daily Sydney Morning Herald.

Ahead of the visit, Saul said it was unwise for Canberra to invite Herzog, alleging that the Israeli leader had incited genocide, violence and hatred against Palestinians.

"His visit will deeply divide, not heal, Australia after Bondi terrorist attack and traumatize the victims here of Israeli atrocities," he said last Thursday.

Police and protesters clashed as thousands took to the streets across Australia on Monday to protest Herzog’s visit.

Herzog is in Australia on an official visit, as police, Israeli security, and snipers shadowed the Israeli president and his wife's every move since he touched down in Sydney to meet with Jewish communities in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack in December.

A UN Human Rights Council special commission of inquiry into the war in the Gaza Strip found last year that Israel was committing genocide and said comments made by Herzog following the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, were evidence of genocidal intent.

Herzog’s trip comes as a ceasefire halted an Israeli offensive that began in October 2023. More than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 171,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, while about 90% of Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed.

Despite the ceasefire, the Israeli army has continued to violate it, killing 576 Palestinians and wounding 1,543 others, the ministry said.