Energy Minister Karin Elharrar was left out in the cold on Monday, unable to enter the
UN Climate Change Conference, which she had traveled from Israel to Glasgow to attend, because it was not handicap accessible.
Elharrar, who has muscular dystrophy, uses a wheelchair and a special handicap-accessible vehicle to get around. She was taken to several entrances and was unable to get into the conference from any of them.
Elharrar was also asked to take a shuttle, but it was not handicap accessible.
After two hours of attempts, she left the conference.
“I went to the international climate conference to promote the joint struggle in the climate crisis through meetings with my counterparts around the world,” she said. “Unfortunately, that was not possible because of accessibility problems that have no justification in the year 2021.”
Elharrar expressed hope that the lesson of the incident had been learned so that she can focus on advancing green energy, removing obstacles and promoting energy efficiency at the conference on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called Elharrar and said the situation was unacceptable and that he would make sure she would enter the conference in his motorcade on Tuesday morning.
