Johnson apologises to Israeli minister who was unable to access COP26 in wheelchair
Prime minister Boris Johnson has apologised to an Israeli minister who was unable to access COP26 in her wheelchair, and had to return to her hotel 50 miles away.
Johnson said he was sorry for the “confusion” when he met minister Karine Elharrar with Israel’s prime minister Naftali Bennett.
Elharrar, who has muscular dystrophy, told the BBC that her experience at the landmark climate conference yesterday had been “a good experience to make sure the next UN conference will be accessible”.
She added that the event today had been “quite a different experience”, with access being far easier than the day prior.
“We can talk about accessibility and the rights of people with disabilities, but in life we need to implement all the conventions and all the regulations and that was an experience that showed that we need to pay attention to all the details everywhere,” Elharrar said.
Bennett thanked the prime minister for his “quick intervention” on the “unfortunate incident”, adding that it was a “learning opportunity for all of us in the importance of accessibility for all”.
Environment secretary George Eustice said that there had been a miscommunication between the Israeli delegation and the event runners.
“What would normally happen in this situation is that Israel would have communicated that they had that particular need for their minister,” Eustice told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme today.
“There was obviously something that went wrong in this instance and they weren’t aware of that so they hadn’t made the right provisions at that particular entrance she was coming too.”