UN Watch has learned that the British government has condemned a recent Richard Falk article for being “resonant of the longstanding antisemitic practice of blaming Jews (through the State of Israel by proxy) for all that is wrong in the world.”
Two months ago, on April 24, we published on this blog the following UK statement that has been sent to reporters:
UK Press Release: Statement on comments by UN Special Rapporteur, Richard Falk – 24 April 2013
The Spokesperson of the UK Mission to the UN said:
‘The UK objects strongly to recent remarks made by UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, Richard Falk, linking the Boston bombings to“American global domination” and “Tel Aviv”. This is the third time we have had cause to express our concerns about Mr Falk’s antisemitic remarks. It is important to the UK that Special Rapporteurs uphold the highest standards in their work and we have twice previously made clear that remarks by Mr Falk were unacceptable.
Well, a skeptic named S. Smith filed a Freedom of Information request with the UK government asking whether UN Watch had accurately reproduced the above statement, and he requested a specific explanation of what London regarded as antisemitic.
Last week, in a June 6th response, the British government explained in detail why they recently condemned the UN’s Richard Falk for antisemitism:
Shortly after the appalling event in Boston, Her Majesty the Queen, the Prime Minister and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Ministers offered condolences to the President and the people of America, and our thoughts go out to those victims and their family and friends. Nothing can justify this attack. We therefore strongly objected to the comments by the UN Special Rapporteur in this context that the “United States has been fortunate not to experience worse blowbacks.”The relevant paragraph from Richard Falk’s article for the Foreign Policy Journal reads:“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”.In the same article Mr Falk said that “as 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.” We believe this article is resonant of the longstanding antisemitic practice of blaming Jews (through the State of Israel by proxy) for all that is wrong in the world. This is unacceptable.We do strongly support the work of Special Rapporteurs as they are a vital part of the UN Human Rights System and it is important that they are able to act independently. However we objected strongly to Mr Falk’s remarks and will continue to raise our objections whenever any Special Rapporteur fails to uphold the standards required in his/her work.The U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky also said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon rejected Falk’s comments, which could undermine the U.N.’s credibility and work. “The Secretary-General immediately condemned the Boston marathon bombing and he strongly believes that nothing can justify such an attack.”
