THIS FROM THE BBC IN APRIL:
UN Expert Stands by Nazi Comments
by Tim Franks, BBC Middle East Correspondent
Richard Falk
The next UN investigator into Israeli conduct in the occupied territories has stood by comments comparing Israeli actions in Gaza to those of the Nazis.
Speaking to the BBC, Professor Richard Falk said he believed that up to now Israel had been successful in avoiding the criticism that it was due.
Professor Falk is scheduled to take up his post for the UN Human Rights Council later in the year.
Professor Falk said he drew the comparison between the treatment of Palestinians with the Nazi record of collective atrocity, because of what he described as the massive Israeli punishment directed at the entire population of Gaza.
“If this kind of situation had existed for instance in the manner in which China was dealing with Tibet or the Sudanese government was dealing with Darfur, I think there would be no reluctance to make that comparison,” he said.
That reluctance was, he argued, based on the particular historical sensitivity of the Jewish people, and Israel’s ability to avoid having their policies held up to international law and morality.
The Lead-In to A Conversation With Richard Falk
Linda Mamoun
In the course of a scholarly life that has spanned more than five decades and includes fifty-four books and dozens more articles. More controversial than anything, perhaps, has been his criticism of Israeli policy in the West Bank and Gaza. Our conversation addressed all of these issues, homing in on Falk’s appointment in March by the United Nations to be the special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories.
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