(JNS) — Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan on Sunday sent a personal letter to all member state representatives urging them not to attend a “Nakba Day” event scheduled for the next day.

Erdan characterized as “abominable” the planned event at the U.N. General Assembly in New York that commemorates what the Palestinians call the “catastrophe” of Israel’s establishment in 1948, saying that it destroys the prospects of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

It is marked annually on May 15, the day after the nascent Jewish state declared independence in 1948, when the armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq invaded in an attempt to destroy Israel.

“The thought that an international organization could mark the establishment of one of its member states as a catastrophe or disaster is both appalling and repulsive,” Erdan wrote in the letter.

“This event is a blatant attempt to distort history, neglecting the fact that those who paint themselves as the victims were actually the aggressors who initiated a five-front war on the newly established State of Israel. This horrifying falsification must not be condoned in any way, shape, or form,” he continued.

Erdan went on to write that “attending one-sided Palestinian initiatives that falsely brand Israel as the source of all evil does not bring the conflict closer to an end but only serves to inflame tensions.”

In a video message from the General Assembly, Erdan affirmed that several member states said that they would not attend “this antisemitic event.”