| For Immediate Release: April 26, 2013 | Contact: info@humanrightsvoices.org Follow us on Twitter |
UN Official's Smear of Boston Victims Just Latest Attack On US, IsraelThis article by Anne Bayefsky originally appeared on Breitbart News. |
It reads: "Mr. Falk’s continued comments and postings to his personal blog are deeply offensive, and I condemn them in the strongest terms. I am registering a strong protest with the UN on behalf of the United States. The United States has often been critical of Mr. Falk’s approach to his mandate, including his one-sided and politicized view of situation in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. We hope that he will resign, recognizing that his continued status as a UN mandate holder is a blight on the UN system."
What happened next?
Richard Falk continued on as a UN "expert." He produced a report for the UN Human Rights Council in May 2012. He presented his report to the Council in June 2012. He wrote another report for the General Assembly in September 2012. He presented that report to the General Assembly in October 2012. And the Obama administration paid 22% of all his costs.
On October 25, 2012, US UN Ambassador Susan Rice issued a press statement on Richard Falk.
It reads: "Throughout his tenure as Special Rapporteur, Mr. Falk has been highly biased and made offensive statements, including outrageous comments on the 9/11 attacks. Mr. Falk’s... continued service in the role of a UN Special Rapporteur is deeply regrettable and only damages the credibility of the UN."
Then what happened? Richard Falk stayed on as UN Special Rapporteur. The Obama administration paid 22% of his bills. The administration also decided to run for a second term on the same UN Human Rights Council that appointed Falk and kept him in the job. The United States was duly re-elected in November 2012.
On April 23, 2013, Susan Rice tweeted: "Outraged by Richard Falk's highly offensive Boston comments. Someone who spews such vitriol has no place at the UN. Past time for him to go." The U.S. UN Mission issued a statement. It reads: "The United States completely rejects the provocative and offensive commentary by Mr. Richard Falk....regarding the recent terrorist attack in Boston, Massachusetts. The United States has previously called for Mr. Falk’s resignation for his numerous outrageous statements, and these comments underscore once more the absurdity of his service as a UN Special Rapporteur."
Do you see a pattern here?
p.s. The UN Human Rights Council “expert” on Israel prior to Falk, one John Dugard, said “a distinction must be drawn between acts of mindless terror…and act committed in the course of a war of national liberation.” Palestinian violence, he said, is the second kind, analogous to “the German occupation resisted by European countries in the Second World War.” That is, Israelis are like Nazis and also have it coming.
Rest assured, when Falk one day steps down from his UN global platform – no thanks to the Obama administration – there’ll be another Falk just around the corner. That’s how the UN “human rights” system works. The question is, how should we work?
Anne Bayefsky is director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust. Follow her@AnneBayefsky.
For more human rights and United Nations coverage see www.HumanRightsVoices.org.
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