Germany's Ambassador to the United Nations Christoph Heusgen called the Simon Wiesenthal Center's "top 10 list of worst outbreaks of antisemitism and anti-Israel incidents for 2019" the "bestseller list" when responding to a question on the remark which landed him on it at a Monday event in New York, a day before his inclusion in the list.
In March, Heusgen said international law was the best way to ensure civilians lived "without fear of Israeli bulldozers or Hamas rockets," which landed him on the list by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its Rabbi Abraham Cooper, who called Heusgen's March remarks "outrageous and dangerous."
"Maybe I shouldn't have made [the remark] at the time," Heusgen said at Tuesday's forum at New York University's Deutsche Haus. "I said that for a child when it comes home to see its home destroyed, it doesn't make a difference if their home was destroyed by a bulldozer or by a rocket and I think this is still correct. When you're a child and you see your home destroyed, there is no difference. But it brought me on the bestseller list, yes."
Asked to clarify what he meant by "bestseller list", Heusgen responded that he doesn't take the placement seriously given his otherwise positive record on Israel.
"No, it's the list of the ten most ... something like that. I mean this is ludicrous," he said. "It's ridiculous. I was National Security Adviser before, I did all the deals with Israel getting their submarines which we actually subsidize. I have so many good Israeli friends and this is just ridiculous."
Heusgen’s full Monday remarks on the issue can be heard in this video of the event.
The list by the Wiesenthal Center features Jeremy Corbyn on the top, a ranking which a Labour Party spokesperson similarly called "ridiculous and grossly offensive."
The Center also referred to Heusgen's votes on resolutions affecting Israel. "Heusgen cast 16 anti-Israel votes at the UN in 2018," it said. "In 2019, he voted for nine anti-Israel resolutions, including one labeling Jerusalem’s holiest sites as ‘Palestinian Occupied territory,’ while abstaining 3 times and opposing only one anti-Israel resolution." A commentary in the German tabloid Bild also criticized Heusgen for his votes, writing that he "always again votes against Israel."
Heusgen responded that those votes were not decided by him but "on a lower level by the foreign ministry" in Berlin. "I'm a civil servant. I don't have leeway on any of these votes," he said.
The tabloid’s commentary went on to call Heusgen’s March remarks, which he called a “personal statement”, as made in “pure malice against the Jewish state,” words which the Wiesenthal Center used in their justification for inclusion in the list.
The Ambassador stood by his remarks and noted that they were specifically referring to a child’s reaction of seeing it’s home destroyed.
"I said for a child. A child. It doesn't make a difference when the home is destroyed by a rocket or by a bulldozer. For the child it doesn't make a difference," said Heusgen, who added that he would however stray away from the bulldozer and rocket comparison in the future, given the backlash it caused. "I know I got so much into trouble for this, so I wouldn't use it again."