Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar was unable to attend the COP26 climate conference on Monday (1) due to lack of wheelchair access. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, host of the event, personally apologized to Elharrar, who he said had accepted.
“He [Johnson] was very kind and very friendly and apologized. Of course, I accepted and I hope that doesn’t happen again,” Elharrar told CNN’s Max Foster during an interview in Glasgow on Tuesday (2).
When asked who she thought was responsible for the problem, Elharrar, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair, said she did not want to judge. “I just found a problem.”
“Instead of dealing with green energy, with cross-country collaborations to combat climate change, I promoted accessibility,” he continued.
“I’m not apologizing. I just want next time, none of that happens.”
Johnson asked Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to invite Elharrar to join them at a meeting on Tuesday.
The UK leader personally apologized to Elharrar for the incident the day before, according to a senior official in the Israeli delegation at the COP.
Elharrar, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair, traveled to the COP site in Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s entourage on Tuesday and accompanied him to the conference, the official said.
Bennett harshly criticized COP 26 organizers for the lack of accessibility and threatened to cancel his participation in the event on Tuesday.
COP President Alok Sharma has repeatedly said that an all-inclusive conference was critical to the success of the climate conference.
CNN contacted the UK Prime Minister’s office for comment.
According to an official traveling with Bennett’s delegation to Scotland, Israeli authorities spent two hours trying to place Elharrar at the COP site on Monday, but “due to the fact that it is not fully wheelchair accessible, the efforts were unsuccessful and the minister was unable to enter.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who is not part of the delegation, tweeted, “It is impossible to safeguard our future and face the climate crisis without first taking care of people, including ensuring accessibility for people with disabilities.” .
The UK ambassador to Tel Aviv, Neil Wigan, was quick to apologize.
“I am disturbed to know that [Karine Elharrar] could not attend the meetings at COP26. I deeply and sincerely apologize to the Minister. We want a COP Summit that is welcoming and inclusive for everyone,” he tweeted.
The United Nations climate change body later apologized for the “inconveniences associated with accessing the COP26 site, both physically and virtually,” in an email distributed to COP26 attendees on Tuesday.
The UN Climate Change secretariat added that “COP26 is taking place in exceptional and unprecedented logistical circumstances” and that access to many spaces had to be reduced to comply with Covid-19 protocols on maintaining social distance.
With over 38,000 registered attendees, social detachment at the conference proved difficult.
An “unprecedented interest” in this particular COP and the security arrangements of the World Leaders Summit “contributed to many logistical pressures,” the statement continued.
“In many ways, the first days of COP26 were a learning process, with participants and staff getting used to the measures and logistical circumstances related to the pandemic, and we are doing our best to learn and continually adapt.”
Reference: CNN Brasil
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