Tee Hee: UN 'human rights council's 'special rapporteur on Israel' resigns after being refused a visa
Makarim Wibisono, the Indonesian who was appointed two years ago to replace Richard Falk as the UN 'human rights council's 'special rapporteur on Israel' has resigned his position after being repeatedly denied a visa to enter the country.
“I took up this mandate with the understanding that Israel would grant
me access, as an impartial and objective observer,” he said.
Makarim
Wibisono of Indonesia was appointed to the post of special rapporteur
on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories in 2014.
He replaced American Richard Falk, who held the post for six years.
In
his resignation letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council he
said that he had tried for two years to gain access to the Palestinian
territories submitting multiple written and oral requests for access.
“Unfortunately,
my efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims of
violations under the Israeli occupation have been frustrated every step
of the way,” said Wibisono.
“With no reply from Israel to my
latest request, in October 2015, to have access by the end of 2015, it
is with deep regret that I accept the premise upon which I took up the
mandate, which is to have direct access to the victims in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, will not be fulfilled,” he said.
Israel is
the only country for which the UNHRC has assigned a permanent special
investigator. All other country assignments are temporary and must be
renewed.
The investigator’s mandate is focused exclusively on
Israeli violations in the Palestinians territories and does not require
the rapporteur to equally look at Palestinian human rights violations.
Israel
has persistently protested that both the mandate and the permanent
assignment reflect the UNHRC’s continued bias to the Jewish state and
has therefore refused to cooperate with the investigators including
Wibisono.
The Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it respected
Wibisono and that it felt his resignation was a subtle commentary on the
bias inherent in the position of the special rapporteur.
In this case, playing hard ball has apparently paid off. There was nothing to be gained in granting Wibisono access to the region.
Goldstone Commission member appointed special rapporteur on “Israel’s violations of the bases and principles of international law.”
Deciding that the vetting committee's choice for the UN’s next special rapporteur on “Israel’s violations of the bases and principles of international law,” the United Nations 'human rights council' has decided to appoint Goldstone Report co-author Christine Chenkin to the position, replacing Richard Falk. The Arab group at the 'human rights commission' decided that the vetting committee's choice was not anti-Israel enough.
The only power that can yet stop these outrageously partisan and problematic appointments before tomorrow’s plenary decision is the Obama Administration.
When council president Baudelaire Ndong Ella tomorrow moves the nominations, the U.S. — if it is to live up to its pledge to use its UNHRC membership to fight bias, politicization and double standards — must take the floor, call a vote, and vote No.
Because the UN desperately seeks to make such appointments by consensus, the president may change his mind if he knows in advance and for certain that the U.S would challenge these two objectionable nominations.
If the U.S. fails to call a vote and stand up for what is right, it will have forfeited its moral justification for serving on a council that just elected Putin, the Castro regime, the Chinese Communist Party, and the House of Saud.
Ben Dror Yemini on Richard Falk's lie about 'Palestinian' civilian casualties.
Let us gauge the genocide claim. In 2013, 36 Palestinians were
killed, according to the human rights organization B'Tselem. At least 30
of those were either involved in clashes with IDF soldiers or were
members of terrorist organizations. Only a few innocents were killed.
The death of each one of them is to be deeply regretted. Yet one should
add that there isn't another conflict in the world where the fatality
rate among civilians is as low as in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In other conflicts it is estimated that between 60 and 90 percent of
fatalities are innocents. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they are a
minority.
In fact, the annual fatality count in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is lower than a daily terror casualty toll in Iraq, Somalia,
Syria, Yemen, and other countries, where 1,153 people died as a result
of terror attacks. This does not include the daily toll from the
massacre perpetrated by the Syrian regime.
Most of the victims are Muslims killed by radical Islamists. In
Pakistan in the course of last year alone, 5,366 people were killed in
acts of terrorism. Almost 3,000 of them were civilians. In Iraq in 2013
alone, 8,868 were killed in terror acts, including 7,818 civilians. The
war on terrorism waged by coalition forces claimed between 227 and 300
thousand lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of them innocents.
Even if the number of casualties of Israeli operations was 10 or 20
times higher, this would still not constitute genocide. A broad
historical examination supports this view. Since 1967, less than 10,000
Palestinians have been killed. Most of them were terrorists. You can
call it many things, but genocide it ain't.
But in all the other conflicts, there is no Professor Falk hovering
in the background and spreading blood libel, no UN Human Rights Council
to pass countless resolutions, no rights organizations cranking out an
increasing number of hostile and biased publications, and no million
dollar subsidies from Europe to bankroll NGOs whose aim is to spin yarns
of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The only one being singled out is Israel, which kills less people
than any other party involved in a conflict, both in absolute and
relative terms. And it has to deal with organizations such as Islamic
Jihad and Hamas, which blatantly declares that its goal is the
destruction of Israel and the extermination of Jews and the killing of
Christians and communists "until the last remaining one."
Read the whole thing. It's even more amazing when you consider that in most other cases, civilians are not systematically placed in the line of fire by their leadership as the 'Palestinians' are.
In a Russian Television segment that was played repeatedly on television and on the internet, UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk has once again accused Israel of being 'genocidal.'
Let's go to the videotape.
That video is an incredible collection of anti-Semites and nut cases. UN Watch's Hillel Neuer adds:
Falk uses his imprimatur as a UN official to
make the grievously false accusation that Israel is acting with
“genocidal intent” and perpetrating a “Holocaust.”
If Israel really is “genocidal,” it only follows logically that Falk will justify violence against Israelis, as he did in a recent blog post,
berating “demands by Israel that Palestinians renounce violence” while
Israel “sustains a structure of occupation and oppression.”
It’s time for
the the U.S. to at least attempt to remove the 9/11 conspiracy theorist
and Hamas supporter from his post—and to eliminate his prejudicial and
outdated Human Rights Council mandate.
UN Watch today sent a letter to
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to condemn Falk. When the
name of the world body is misused to promote specious canards—and as an
odious warrant for terrorism—the UN chief has a moral duty to speak out.
But the truth
is that Falk, like other Human Rights Council appointees, answers only
to the U.S. and the 46 other member states of the UNHRC. In this case, the buck does not stop with Ban Ki-moon; it stops with Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the UN. That is why I have urged her, in a UN Watch letter sent today, to take action.
(You can do it too, by clicking here to send Ambassador Power a message.)
And to think that Russia Today interviewed me nearly four years ago. I haven't seen anything this anti-Semitic on the web from a non-Nazi website in a long time.
A Wikileaks cable shows that in 2010, the 'Palestinian Authority' asked that UN 'human rights council' special envoy Richard Falk be fired... because he was too pro-Hamas (Hat Tip: Elder of Ziyon). The cable was written by Douglas Griffiths, then the American charge d'affaires in Geneva.
PA May Call for Special Rapporteur Falk's Dismissal
¶8. (C) Also on February 16, in a separate conversation with Charge
and PolCouns, PA DPR Zuhairi was visibly upset by Special
Rapporteur for Human Rights in the OPT Richard Falk's reference to
Hamas in his draft report. In para 8, Falk states that UNGA
resolution 64/10 calls on Hamas - vice the PA - to undertake
investigations. Zuhairi argued that he had too often corrected
Falk's many errors and that this latest misguided effort by Falk
had gone too far. Zuhairi said he might use the February 18 HRC
organizational meeting to seek to block Falk's report from being
presented to the HRC on the grounds that Falk overstepped his
mandate, had addressed issues outside his brief, and had failed to
appropriately recognize a UNGA resolution (not to mention the
legitimate authority of the Pa). Zuhairi also said he wished Falk
would drop his repeated suggestions that Israel's actions in the
OPT be equated with the Holocaust. Such language has allowed
Israel to justify its refusal to allow Falk to visit, and has
limited his usefulness as a rapporteur.
¶9. (C) In light of the reference to Hamas, Zuhairi said he had
called Falk personally and asked him to step down, something Falk
angrily rejected. Zuhairi sought our advice on how best to
approach the issue, particularly in light of currently OIC and
African Group attempts to censure the secret detention study.
Charge and PolCouns, while acknowledging the problem of recognizing
Hamas, told Zuhairi that the U.S. defended the independence of the
special procedures mandate holders and that we objected to state's
use of the code of conduct as a means to muzzle rapporteurs.
In other words, Falk is so anti-Israel that choosing him shoots the 'Palestinian' cause in the foot. Heh.
UN official justifies Boston Marathon terror, blames US and 'Tel Aviv'
A United Nations official has justified the Boston Marathon terror attack as "due retribution” for American sins, warned of “worse blowbacks” unless America changes its foreign policy, and blamed American foreign policy on “Tel Aviv” having the "compliant ear" of the American political establishment. That official, of course, is the 'human rights council's special rapporteur on the Middle East, Richard Falk.
The American global domination project
is bound to generate all kinds of resistance in the post-colonial world.
In some respects, the United States has been fortunate not to
experience worse blowbacks, and these may yet happen, especially if
there is no disposition to rethink US relations to others in the world,
starting with the Middle East. Some of us naively hoped that Obama’s
Cairo speech of 2009 was to be the beginning of such a process of
renewal, and although timid in many ways, it was yet possessed of a
tonality candidly acknowledged that relations with the Islamic world
needed fundamental moves by the US Government for the sake of
reconciliation, including the adoption of a far more balanced approach
to the Palestine/Israel impasse. But as the months passed, what became
evident, especially given the strong pushback by Israel and its
belligerent leader, Bibi Netanyahu, were a series of disappointing
reactions by Obama, which could be described as an accelerating
backpedaling in relation to opening political space in the Middle East.
Now at the start of his second
presidential term, it seems that Obama has given up altogether,
succumbing to the Beltway ethos of Israel First. Obama has acknowledged
the constraints on his freedom to maneuver on these foreign policy
issues, and seeks to confine his legacy ambitions to such domestic
concerns as immigration, gun control, and health care. In so doing, he
is virtually abandoning the international agenda except to manage crisis
diplomacy in ways that do not disturb the global status quo or weaken
America’s global reach. Obama’s March trip to Israel was highlighted by
his March 21st speech in Jerusalem, which was delivered as a love letter
to the Israeli public rather than qualifying as a good faith effort to
demonstrate his belief in a just peace. Such obsequious diplomacy was a
disappointment even to those of us with low expectations in what the
White House is willing to overcome the prolonged ordeal of the
Palestinian people.
In a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Watch's Hillel Neuer has urged Ban to condemn Falk's comments.
First, its thesis is that Americais to blame for last week’s atrocity. Falk approvingly cites comments justifying the Boston Marathon bombings as “retribution” for the actions of the U.S.military in Afghanistan,IraqandPakistan. “The American global domination project,” says Falk, bears responsibility for provoking “all kinds of resistance” in the post-colonial world. He calls for “courage” to “connect some of these dots.” Crystallizing his justification of the terrorist attacks, he writes: “Those to whom evil is done, do evil in return.”
...
Second, Falk conjures up the sinister specter of another global menace by blaming the Boston bombings on the Jewish state: “[A]s long as Tel Aviv has the compliant ear of the American political establishment those who wish for peace and justice in the world should not rest easy.”
President Obama is accused of having delivered “a love letter to the Israeli public” during his recent trip there, and of practicing “obsequious diplomacy.” Falk predicts “worse blowbacks” if the U.S.does not change its Middle East policy.
Third, the essay alludes to the same 9/11 conspiracy theories that caused you and other world leaders to condemn him in 2011. Falk speaks of “holy war fevers espoused by national leaders, the media, and a vengeful public after the 9/11 attacks” which “embraced Islamophobic falsehoods.” This was exploited by Bush White House officials “openly seeking a pretext to launch a regime-changing war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.” According to Falk, “[T]he 9/11 events, as interpreted and spun, provided just the supportive domestic climate needed for launching an aggressive war against the Baghdad regime.”
We are shocked to discover that Richard Falk—the U.N. official whose antisemitic remarks and 9/11 conspiracy theories have been condemned by British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay—is a board member of your organization.
By legitimizing this racist and enemy of human rights, your organization undermines its own founding principles. We urge you to remove him immediately.
According to your website, Mr. Falk is a member of Human Rights Watch's prestigious Santa Barbara Committee, composed of prominent citizens who play a key role in your organization’s global work.
We find it astonishing that Mr. Falk would be rewarded by such a prestigious position with Human Rights Watch, one of the world's largest human rights organizations.
As a keen follower of the U.N. and its Human Rights Council, you surely know the following:
That Falk is so extreme in his support for the Hamas terrorist organization that even the Palestinian Authority—as revealed in a Wikleaks cable, and which Falk himself admits—has sought to remove him, on grounds that he is a "partisan of Hamas";
That Falk last week published an article attempting to downplay, reinterpret and justify the latest call by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to destroy Israel;
That Falk last year published on his website an antisemitic cartoon showing a dog wearing a Jewish head covering, and with "USA" written on its body, urinating on a depiction of justice and devouring a bloody skeleton;
That Falk was condemned for this antisemitic act by British Prime Minister Cameron;
That UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay also condemned Falk's cartoon as "antisemitic";
That Falk now provides the cover endorsement of a virulently antisemitic book, “The Wandering Who,” whose author, as documented by Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz in The New Republic,
boasts about drawing "insights from a man who... was an anti-Semite as
well as a radical misogynist,” a hater of “almost everything that fails
to be Aryan masculinity,” declares himself a “proud, self-hating Jew,”
writes with “contempt” of “the Jew in me,” and describes himself as “a
strong opponent" of "Jewish-ness”;
That, only two months ago, Falk was condemned
for endorsing this antisemitic book by the British Foreign Office,
which protested to the U.N. and expressed its “serious concerns”;
Canada calls for 9/11 troother Richard Falk's resignation
Canada joined the United States and Israel late Thursday night in
calling for the resignation of a United Nations official charged with
monitoring and reporting on human rights in the Palestinian territories.
That
official, Richard Falk, the UN's special rapporteur for the Palestinian
Territories, called for a worldwide boycott earlier Thursday of
companies tied to Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian
territories.
That recommendation was immediately condemned by the
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, who called Falk's
call to action "irresponsible and unacceptable," and said it would
"poison the environment for peace."
A spokesman for Foreign
Affairs Minister John Baird, Rick Roth, said Falk's intervention was
"offensive and unhelpful but not overly surprising."
In the past,
Falk, a professor emeritus of international law at Princeton
University, once compared the state of Israel to Nazi Germany, the
Associated Press reported.
He also once wrote on his blog that
there was "an apparent coverup" by the U.S. over the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks. He also once posted an anti-Semitic cartoon on his blog, though
he later removed it.
"Richard Falk has a long history of making
outrageous statements, and frankly, has only tarnished the reputation
and integrity of the United Nations," Roth said.
Falk listed 13
companies that ought to be boycotted -- including Volvo, Caterpillar
Hewlett Packard and Motorola -- in his report to the UN General Assembly
"Mr.
Falk has not only done a disservice to the United Nations, but also to
the Palestinian people," Roth said. "Canada calls on Mr. Falk to either
withdraw this biased and disgraceful report - or resign from his
position at the United Nations."
Caterpillar said in a statement
that Falk's report was inaccurate and misleading, and "reflects his
personal and negative opinions toward Israel." The company said it sells
products to the U.S. government, which are then sent to Israel.
Hewlett
Packard said Falk was "far from an independent and unbiased expert in
this matter," and that the company has a strong human rights policy and
complies with the highest standards in every market in which they
operate.
Unbelievable: UN 'human rights council' calls for boycott of US companies, arrest of their employees
Remember how the Obama administration insisted on joining the United Nations 'human rights council' so that they could 'reform' it from withinshow they were different than the Bush administration? Remember how, in a bid to bind a future administration if Obama loses the election, Obama insisted on re-upping for a second term far before it was necessary to make that decision? And of course you know that the 'human rights council' has an agenda item on Israel - and only on Israel - as if Israel were not only a human rights violator, but the only human rights violator in the world.
Well, now the UN is paying back President Hussein Obama for his devotion to the 'human rights council.' On Thursday, the council called for boycotting American companies that do business with Israel. That includes companies like Motorola, Hewlett Packard and Caterpillar. It also includes companies based in Britain, France, Mexico, Israel and others. Really (Hat Tip: Lance K).
The Free Beacon has obtained a report soon to be released by the United Nations that calls for an international campaign of legal attacks and economic warfare on a group of American companies that do business in Israel, including Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar Inc., and Motorola Solutions Inc.
...
In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman blasted the report and the HRC’s special rapporteur: “We believe you should have prevented the Secretariat from being a party to Mr. Falk’s anti-Israel agenda. Mr. Falk’s entire tenure as Special Rapporteur has served to undermine the credibility of the institution of the United Nations.”
The report attempts to instigate a campaign of boycott, divestment, sanctions, and legal action against a litany of international companies doing business in Israel. In addition to American companies, the U.N. targets include major European firms such as Veolia Environnement, Group 4 Security, the Dexia Group, the Volvo Group.
“The costs to companies and businesses of failing to respect international humanitarian law are considerable,” the report warns, “including damage to a company’s public image, impact on shareholder decisions and share price and could result in employees being criminally responsible for rights abuses.”
But wait - it gets worse.
The report warns American employees of targeted companies that they face legal risks.
“Employees of companies can face investigation and prosecution for human rights violations committed irrespective of where the violation was committed.”
In addition to legal action against American employees of targeted companies, the Special Rapporteur “concludes that all companies that operate in or otherwise have dealings with Israeli settlements should be boycotted.” The companies should ”be prepared to accept any consequences—reputation, financial, or legal—of continuing operations.”
Should the companies continue doing business in Israel, the Human Rights Council “calls on civil society to actively pursue legal and political redress against non-complying business” and “to vigorously pursue initiatives to boycott, divest and sanction the businesses highlighted in this report” and “calls on the international community to consider requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice” to punish the businesses.
Mitt Romney should call now for the US to withdraw from the 'human rights council' and should pledge to withdraw immediately should he become President. Enough is enough.
And you thought every day was 'Hate Israel Day' at the UN
On Monday, I reported on how President Obama had thrown Israel under the bus by trading off a special session on Israel in the UN Security Council for a special session on Syria. But the special session on Israel had a silver lining. UN Watch's Hillel Neuer ripped the UN's anti-Semitic 'observer' and 9/11 troother Richard Falk some choice new body parts.
“I call on the international community, especially States with close relations with Israel, to urge the Israeli Government to fulfil its responsibilities under international law, most urgently with regard to Mr. Adnan,” the human rights expert said. Mr. Adnan, whose life is reportedly in jeopardy, has maintained a hunger strike for 60 days in response to the humiliating circumstances of his imprisonment without charges by the Government of Israel.
“In view of the emergency of his situation, the Government of Israel must take immediate and effective action to safeguard Mr. Adnan’s life, while upholding his rights,” stressed the Special Rapporteur, who is currently undertaking a fact-finding mission to the region.
Mr. Falk also called on the Government of Israel to respect its legal obligations pertaining to the several thousand Palestinians it has imprisoned. “The improper treatment of thousands of Palestinian prisoners by the Government of Israel should be of great concern to the international community, and it is a problem that I am paying close attention to in the context of my ongoing visit to the region.”
Stanford Law School hosts 9/11 truther Richard Falk
On Monday night, the law school at Stanford University hosted a lecture by the United Nations' number one proponent of the claim that the United States conspired to perpetrate the 9/11 attacks: Richard Falk.
An event this evening at Stanford University is a sobering reminder that some of what is said and done today in the name of the UN would cause Roosevelt and Churchill to roll in their graves.
The human rights clinic of the law faculty, headed by Professor James Cavallaro, a former Human Rights Watch activist, has decided to give its platform, in the form of a public lecture and reception, to Richard Falk, a UN expert and former Princeton academic.
While he appears highly qualified and is well versed in the language of human rights, the reality is that Falk’s twisted moral vision negates the UN founders’ dream, recasting tyrants, terrorists and teachers of hatred as heroic victims resisting colonialist oppression.
As the world focuses on the Iranian government’s mad race for a nuclear bomb, and its brutal repression of peaceful student activists, Stanford’s human rights scholars ought to recall that Falk was a key promoter of this regime’s establishment.
Days after Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in 1979, Falk reassured the world, in a New York Times op-ed titled “Trusting Khomeini,” that “the depiction of him as fanatical, reactionary and the bearer of crude prejudices seems certainly and happily false.”
Khomeini’s entourage, wrote Falk, had “a notable record of concern for human rights.” Indeed, the ayatollah’s “new model of popular revolution” offered the world “a desperately-needed model of humane governance for a third-world country.”
In response, the Times’ Anthony Lewis called Falk’s assurances “outstandingly silly.” Yet folly carries a price, and legions of Iranian men and women—brutalized, tortured and raped by the Islamic Republic—continue to pay it.
Second, Falk is one of the figures responsible for turning the UN Human Rights Council—whose precursor was founded by Eleanor Roosevelt—into a travesty.
...
Third, Falk uses his UN post to legitimize Hamas, ignoring its brutalization of fellow Palestinians, rocketing of Israeli civilians and incitement to genocidal murder of Jews.
...
Fourth, Falk recently published a cartoon showing a dog, with “U.S.A.” written on its body and wearing a Jewish headcover, devouring a bloody skeleton and urinating on a female figure symbolizing justice.
UN rights chief Navi Pillay found the posting “anti-Semitic” and “objectionable.” Falk was condemned by British Prime Minister David Cameron and many others.
Eventually Falk apologized, claiming it was an error, but only after he initially denied doing anything wrong.
Last but not least, Falk is one of the world’s top 9/11 conspiracy theorists, endorsing those who accuse the U.S. government of orchestrating the destruction of the Twin Towers as a pretext to launch wars.
I searched in vain for any comment by Stanford University Professor and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
UN publishes report accusing Israel of absuing 'Palestinian' children
The United Nations accused Israel of violating the human rights of 'Palestinian' children in Gaza and the West Bank, and contended that the Jewish State was not acting to prevent settler violence against Palestinians.
“Prolonged occupation deforms the development of children through pervasive deprivations affecting health, education, and overall security,” said a United Nations official.
“The insecurity of Palestinian children is aggravated in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem by settler violence and night time raids and detentions by Israeli occupation forces, house demolitions, threatened expulsions, and a host of other practices,” he added.
The official stated that the number of Palestinian children arrested has risen in the past four years and that there has been a 50 percent increase in settler violence this year.
“The failure to prevent and punish settler violence remains a serious and ongoing violation of Israel’s fundamental legal obligation to protect the civilian population,” he said.
The UN official also decried Israel's naval blockade of Gaza, urging the international community to “urgently allow entry to Gaza of material needed for repair of water and electricity infrastructure” to avoid deterioration of the health of civilians, particularly children who are in a critical condition.
Israel Radio spent most of its 7:00 - 8:00 am hour and much of its 8:00 - 9:00 am hour on this report. The Jerusalem Post also wrote about it and I will take you to that link shortly.
So what haven't I told you? I haven't told you the same thing that Israel Radio didn't tell you other than to mention the UN official's name, and the same thing that took the Jerusalem Post until the seventh paragraph of a nine-paragraph story to mention - and even then they only mentioned a small part of it. Here's what JPost had to say about the report's author.
[Richard] Falk faced calls that he resign in July after he posted on his personal blog a cartoon of a dog with a kippah urinating on a statue of Lady Justice, and alleged that arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Muammar Gaddafi were politically motivated.
US envoy to the UN, Joseph M. Torsella, called on Falk to resign as did Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. The Anti-Defamation League and B’nai B’rith also weighed in, calling on Falk to step down.
Falk said that posting the cartoon “was a mistake and I regret it,” but said that he would not resign.
But there's so much more that they didn't tell you about Richard Falk. At first, he denied posting that cartoon. He's a 9/11 truther (and been condemned for it by Ban Ki-Moon). He's been barred from entering Israel, which he has compared to Nazis. He doesn't work for the United Nations, but for its 'Human Rights Council' - a body whose vehement obsession with Israel is well documented.
Did anyone really expect this guy to produce a report that doesn't condemn Israel?
In fact, the real question here is why - if they were going to insist on covering it - Israel Radio's Reshet Bet (a government-owned station) and the Jerusalem Post gave the report any credibility at all? You could have listened to Israel Radio for most of Friday's morning drive time broadcast and thought that the UN was condemning us for doing horrible things - and that maybe even they had a point. But no, they didn't. Falk has no credibility whatsoever. And neither do Reshet Bet or the Jerusalem Post - at least on this one.
Pigs fly: Navi Pillay admits Falk's cartoon was racist
Remember the anti-Semitic cartoon that Richard Falk posted on his blog?
Well, UN 'human rights' chief Navi Pillay has admitted that the cartoon is anti-Semitic, but of course that doesn't mean she calls for Falk's resignation.
Pillay - the United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights - stated in a letter to UN Watch, the organization which first brought the issue to public attention, that the cartoon was indeed anti-Semitic and added, “I utterly deplore and condemn anti-Semitism, as I do any form of incitement to hatred and racial discrimination.”
She acknowledged “the anti-Semitic and objectionable nature of the cartoon,” but also noted “Mr. Falk's series of public apologies,” and did not call on Falk to resign, saying only that she welcomed the fact that he had swiftly removed the image from his website.
Not enough says Hillel Neuer.
UN Watch director Hillel Neuer welcomed Pillay’s comments but called on her to urge Falk to resign in light of “Mr. Falk’s other insulting statements, including his recent blog post calling Mr. Ban Ki-moon a ‘shameless secretary-general,’ and his repeated utterances about US complicity in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.”
This is the first time Pillay has commented on Falk who has made a series of controversial remarks in the past. Until now, Pillay’s office has insisted that UN special rapporteurs do not fall under the mandate of her office, and she has therefore refused to discuss the issues surrounding the controversial posting and its current representative.
I guess the Obama administration is having a huge impact on the workings of the 'human rights council.'
The United States has joined the chorus demanding the resignation of UN Special Rapporteur to the Palestinians Territories Richard Falk, who published an anti-Semitic and anti-American cartoon on his blog last week. This is not the first time there has been controversy surrounding Falk, who is barred from entering Israel.
“I am deeply disturbed that once again UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk has used his personal blog to publish abhorrent material,” [US envoy to the UN Joseph M. Torsella] said. “His shameful and outrageous behavior is an embarrassment to the United Nations. Someone who publishes such vicious images has no place in the UN system. Mr. Falk has yet again created a distasteful sideshow that distracts from the cause of human rights. We reiterate our call for him to step down immediately.”
But Falk continues to resist stepping down.
Meanwhile, UN Watch said Falk has adamantly refused to step down from his position despite repeated calls. UN Watch head Hillel Neuer said only UN rights chief Navi Pillay can remove Falk from office.
“The Geneva-centered UN human rights system reveres the high commissioner as the Catholic Church does the pope,” Neuer said. “If she reprimands Falk, the word will ripple throughout the system. He would be shamed within the diplomatic and human rights communities, and would eventually have to resign. I therefore trust that the US will register its protest not with the UN in abstract, but with Ms. Pillay’s office in particular.”
It's long past time for the US to stop lending credibility to the UN 'Human Rights Council.' What could go wrong?
Earlier this week, I reported on UN 'human rights' rapporteur Richard Falk posting the anti-Semitic and anti-American cartoon pictured above on his blog. On Thursday, Falk 'apologized.' Well, sort of....
Richard Falk's “apology” raises serious questions that go to both his judgment and his character. Finding himself in a corner of his own making, he states that, “I oppose any denigration of a people based on ethnicity, race, religion,” as if this were a special badge of honor, and then adds to ethnicity, race, religion, “stage of development”—which is not a human rights issue.
Even stranger is the banality that follows, “We must . . .. treat animals with as much respect as possible.” Falk here appears not only to be equating animals with human beings, but to be apologizing for his cartoon's insult to Jews as well as dogs. Do these mutterings truly befit someone the UN Human Rights Council has chosen to employ as an expert on human rights?
Richard Falk posts cartoon of bloodthirsty dog wearing kipa on his blog
9/11 'truther' Richard Falk is the United Nations' 'Human Rights Council's permanent investigator of Israeli violations. Falk recently posted on his blog a cartoon featuring a bloodthirsty dog wearing a kipa (skullcap) of the type worn by Jews on its head. The cartoon incites hatred against Jews and Americans. UN Watch is demanding action from UN 'human rights' chief Navi Pillay, who has made anti-racism her primary focus. In January, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Falk for using his blog to propagate the 9/11 conspiracy theory. US Ambassador Susan Rice said he should be fired. However, Ms. Pillay declined to speak out. Falk has also been barred from entering Israel, which he has compared to Nazis.
UN Watch has written the following letter to Navi Pillay, demanding that action be taken against Falk.
Ms. Navi Pillay UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais des Nations 1211 Geneva 10
July 6, 2011
Dear Madam High Commissioner,
We write to convey our grave concern over the publication of an overtly anti-Semitic cartoon by Richard Falk, an expert of the UN Human Rights Council. We urge you—as the highest moral authority of the UN human rights system—to condemn Mr. Falk’s actions, which constitute incitement to hatred and racial discrimination as defined under Articles 1 and 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Mr. Falk published the attached cartoon in his blog post of June 29. As you can see, it depicts a dog urinating on a woman symbolizing justice, and devouring a dead body with blood and bones spewing out of its mouth. The dog is shown in a garment marked “USA” and wearing a Kipa, the Jewish religious head covering, which is marked by a Star of David. The cartoon is manifestly anti-Semitic and, before a worldwide Internet audience, incites hatred against Jews as well as against Americans.
We are aware that mandate-holders are answerable only to the Council, and that Mr. Falk and his supporters will claim that the cartoon was published in his “personal capacity.” As you know, however, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in identical circumstances, unequivocally ruled that Mr. Falk has “a clear responsibility to uphold the high standards of the United Nations and the Council.” Accordingly, the Secretary-General twice condemned Mr. Falk for having propagated the 9/11 conspiracy theory and insulting the memory of the 3,000 victims of that attack. Likewise, in 2005, your predecessor, High Commissioner Louise Arbour did not hesitate to condemn expert Jean Ziegler for what she described as his “inflammatory” and “highly irresponsible” remarks.
For the UN human rights system to be credible in the fight against racism, its own representatives must not be allowed to incite hatred and racial discrimination with impunity. We urge you to speak out.
Sincerely,
Hillel C. Neuer Executive Director
Don't hold your breath waiting for Pillay to do something. Just another UN embarrassment.
UPDATE 1:06 AM
Falk has denied posting the cartoon to his blog, but has not deleted it from his image data base. You can see a screen capture of the original post here.
For your further entertainment, here's Falk's twitter feed: Could this finally be the end of Richard Falk's career at the 'human rights council'?
Video: UN Watch's Hillel Neuer testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Last week, UN Watch's Hillel Neuer testified before the US House Committee of Foreign Affairs regarding human rights protections at the United Nations 'Human Rights Council.' It's called "the State of Human Rights at the United Nations," and it is devastating.
Let's go to the videotape.
The full version of the written testimony was entered into the Congressional record and is available here.
Here's guessing that the Republican House will not fund the United States' membership in the 'Human Rights Council' anymore.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
