[Peace-discuss] Richard Falk in Israel

[Brussel Morton K.]

A follow up.  Some say there's no reason to consider this worthy  
news, since Israel only does the U.S.'s bidding, so criticism is  
misplaced. …mkb


Israel: UN Rights Envoy is ‘Unwelcome’
US Professor Was Detained for Over 20 Hours at Tel Aviv Airport  
Before Expulsion
Posted December 15, 2008

The Israeli government held UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in  
the Palestinian Territories Richard Falk for over 20 hours at a Tel  
Aviv airport, before eventually putting him on an airplane bound for  
Los Angeles. UN officials complained of the envoy’s treatment, saying  
“one doesn’t expect a UN special rapporteur to find himself in that  
position.”

But Israel defended the action, with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni  
declaring that Falk, a Princeton professor who condemned the Israeli  
blockade on the Gaza Strip, was “unwelcome in Israel.” A later  
statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry accused Professor Falk of  
“legitimizing Hamas terrorism.” Israeli human rights group B’Tselem  
condemned the move, saying that barring the entry of the professor  
was “an act unbefitting of democracy.”

Israel was outraged at the appointment of Prof. Falk to the position  
in March, claiming his history of harsh criticism of Israeli policies  
made him unsuitable for the position. Falk compared Israel’s history  
of collective punishment in the Gaza Strip with that of Nazi Germany,  
of which he later said “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.”

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