Israel Matzav

Israel's foreign ministry takes a dose of testosterone

Israel's foreign ministry found its spine on Monday morning and denied entry to the country to Richard Falk, the UN 'Human Rights' Council's 'special rapporteur' on the 'Palestinians.' You can't say they weren't warned. In April, Israel announced that it would not allow Falk entry into the country. And while this article mentions that Falk was in Israel in June, he did not assume the position of special rapporteur until June 16.

Perhaps the foreign ministry was inspired to do the right thing by Hillel Neuer of UN Watch. Here's Neuer ripping Falk some selected new body parts back in June - on the day he was installed in his position. Let's go to the videotape.



Or perhaps, there are some American Jews who are so vile that even the foreign ministry cannot countenance them:

Simona Halperin, the director of the Foreign Ministry's International Organization and Human Rights department, said that Falk was turned back since as rapporteur he was "illegitimate."

Halperin called Falk "completely unobjective," citing his comparisons of Israelis to Nazis and Israel's actions to the Holocaust, and as such, she said, he was "unwelcome."

Halperin said Israel sent Falk an e-mail on Saturday, but that he decided to make the trip in any case.

...

Although Falk is a US citizen, Halperin said that there would be no diplomatic tensions between the two countries. She said that the US embassy had called the Foreign Ministry asking about the incident and that the Americans had said Israel reserved the right to decide who to let into the country.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Falk "does not try to advance human rights, but instead comes with his conclusions ready and those conclusions are of course extreme, methodical criticism of Israel and only of Israel."

Last week, Falk accused Israel of committing a crime against humanity with its policies in the Gaza Strip.

I wonder if an Obama administration with Hillary Clinton at the State Department would more vigorously protest Falk's exclusion. I hope not.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:27 PM