Israel Matzav

Israel under attack for barring 9/11 troofer

Israel has come under attack by the UN and its 'human rights council' for barring 9/11 troofer Richard Falk from entering the country.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay says Israel's treatment of Falk was unprecedented and deeply regrettable. Her office said Falk traveled to Israel on his U.S. passport and with a certificate proving he was undertaking an official UN mission to the Palestinian territories.

But that pales next to the outright war Israel is having with General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto.

United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto also condemned the expulsion, following his recent criticism of the Israeli delegation to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights assembly.

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United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann on Tuesday charged that the Israeli delegation has spread a "malicious lie" by asserting that he tried to bar its envoy from addressing a human rights session.

The accusations deepen an already existing rift with Israel. D'Escoto, the American-born former Nicaraguan foreign minister and a pro-Sandinista Roman Catholic priest who has chaired the General Assembly since September, also charged that he had received death threats following the assertion.

In a special statement read by his spokesman Enrique Yeves, d'Escoto denounced as a "criminal act" of "slander" the charge, reported in Israeli media, that he had tried to keep Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev from speaking at an assembly session marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

An Israeli spokeswoman condemned d'Escoto's remarks as "outrageous and ridiculous."

"This is a malicious and absolute lie that could best be characterized as slander and in any court of law this is a criminal act," Yeves said of reported remarks by Shalev, quoted last week in the Jerusalem Post accusing d'Escoto of trying to block her participation in the commemorative meeting.

According to d'Escoto, following the charges that he said were spread by senior officials in the Israeli delegation, "very serious threats have appeared on the internet" against his life.

"This matter is being looked into by the pertinent authorities," Yeves told reporters. "Also the security staff at the UN is taking it very seriously." Yeves said D'Escoto was already taking unspecified "extra security measures" for protection. It was not immediately clear who was behind the reported threats.

In response to d'Escoto's remarks, Israeli UN delegation spokeswoman Mirit Cohen issued a heated press release.

"The president of the Assembly must act as a unifying force, fostering the common values and interests of all member states," Cohen said in the statement. "Despite this, since entering his position, Mr. d'Escoto has exploited his post , voicing unacceptable declarations, which have prompted criticism from much of the international community.

"Following the outrageous and ridiculous declaration issued by the Assembly president, Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev cancelled the meeting with him which he had initiated."

In November, d'Escoto called for Israel's destruction.

Meanwhile, Falk is regarded as such a lunatic that on Sunday even the moonbats at the San Francisco Chronicle called for his dismissal.

I talked with [UN Watch Chairman Hillel CiJ] Neuer, and with Falk. In any conversation about Falk, Neuer's fundamental concern is on a different plane. The Human Rights Council, he notes, has fired its special representatives for Cuba, Liberia, Uzbekistan - even Congo. But one state has a permanent monitor not subject to debate or renewal. That is Israel, and Falk holds that position. "He has a very serious mandate," Neuer said. "People who question whether 9/11 happened are not serious people. No one in the United States or the West could be in positions of authority if they engaged 9/11 conspiracy talk."

Falk, of course, disagrees. He notes that his position is part-time - and unpaid. "I've been trying to balance different agendas and roles. I am an academic and a citizen. And I don't think those roles reflect on my position as special rapporteur."

Fair enough, but these 9/11 conspiracy theorists remind me of the people who used to think that Neil Armstrong didn't really land on the moon 40 years ago; the entire exercise was actually carried out in a water tank. It's a free country; you're entitled to think whatever you like. But this is fringe stuff. Would we ever have appointed an advocate of the water-tank theory to a senior position in government? The Human Rights Council is already an embarrassment to the United Nations. Certainly reasonable people can criticize Israel, just as they can find fault with the Palestinians. But the council's pathological obsession with Israel is its defining characteristic, and Falk is its embodiment.

I wouldn't have cared that an academic wrote the foreword several years ago for a book that is the conspiracy advocates' bible. But I do care that the man whose job now is to help the Islamic states pursue their vendetta against Israel also believes that the U.S. government is capable of such unspeakable evil. What does that tell you about his frame of mind for his United Nations job?

Maybe even the American left is starting to understand - and become uncomfortable with - the world's pathological obsession with Israel (as columnist Joel Brinkley wrote above)? Or is that too much to hope for?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:18 AM