UN "human rights" envoy blocked by Israel

Telegraph:

Israel has said it will refuse a visa for the new United Nations human rights envoy to the Palestinians after he said it was responsible for a “Holocaust in the making” in Gaza.

Richard Falk, a Jewish-American law professor, is to assume the UN post of special rapporteur in June.

But the Israeli government is furious as he compared it last year to Nazi Germany and has refused to retract his comments since his appointment.

A spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry also accused his employers of bias.

Israeli officials want the envoy to evaluate Palestinian human rights violations, including rockets fired on Israeli civilians, alongside any Israeli transgressions.

The ministry has said that Mr Falk will not be issued a visa to enter the country until at least September, when the UN is to re-evaluate his mandate.

In an essay written last year, Mr Falk said that Israel was creating a “Holocaust in the making” for its heavy economic sanctions on Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Arye Mekel, the foreign ministry spokesman, said: “We take it personally. I myself, my grandparents were murdered by the Nazis. How can I react to these comments? They’re very painful.

“This is a very outrageous statement to us and a personal insult to every Israeli. How could he then come up with an objective conclusion about what Israel does or doesn’t do in Gaza?”

Mr Falk has said he stands by his comments, despite the outcry in Israel.

He said he did not intend the Nazi comparison to be taken literally but wanted to shock the world into action, and said that the Jewish people’s own tragic history has helped Israel evade criticism.

“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,” Mr Falk told the BBC.

In the essay, “Slouching toward a Palestinian Holocaust”, he called on foreign governments to intervene in Gaza.

...

With his hostile attitude before finding out the facts, he is not an envoy that can be expected to treat the Israelis with fairness. The so called human rights organization at the Un has become a joke anyway. It is loaded up with countries that ignore what is happening in Sudan, Iran, and Zimbabwe. It also ignores Palestinian war crimes while it attacks Israel. The Israelis should not facilitate an unfair inquiry.

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