Richard Falk, the world’s greatest Jew-hater

Richard Falk is in the news again today. He is the United Nations’ ‘Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967’. He is a man with a mission. His mission is to demonize Israel.

He returns to the news just as Israel Apartheid Week prepares to open its month-long Israel-is-apartheid extravaganza, beginning next week. Perhaps Falk wants to be first to attack the hated Israeli. Perhaps he simply likes the words, Israel-is-apartheid. Perhaps he just hates Jews.

He has been ‘The UN Special Rapporteur for six years. His anti-Israel portfolio is extensive. An academician by training, his attacks against Israel have been uniquely un-collegial. They have been excessive. They have been beyond reason.  

He repulses Jews. He repulses pro-Israel advocates. He has even repulsed anti-Israel ‘Palestinians’.

That’s hard to do. But Falk is an expert. His expertise is demonization. He may be the world’s greatest Jew-hater today.

To understand such a label, consider the following: in June, 2011, this master of demonization posted a cartoon on his personal blog which, he said, was anti-American. But that description did not explain the anti-Israel and anti-Jew content of the cartoon.

The cartoon showed the Statue of Lady Justice carrying a sword. She (‘Justice’) was blindfolded.  She had a dog beside her. She had the dog on a leash. The dog wore an Israel flag as a ‘doggie’ coat. It was angrily crunching on ‘Palestinian’ bones. The dog was simultaneously crushing Arab bones in its mouth--and urinating on Justice. The dog wore a kippa—the head-cap worn by religious Jews. The dog appeared to be grinning. It was destroying Arab bones and soiling Justice.

The message was clear. Jews in Israel ‘consumed’ Arabs. Israeli Jews had no regard for Justice.

It’s unclear why Falk should call this cartoon anti-American.  Lady Justice is not a purely American icon. There was no item in the picture identified with America. The only items identified were marked as Jewish—the flag and the kippa.

When Falk was heavily criticized for posting something so blatantly ugly, he denied the viciousness of the cartoon. He denied it was anti-Semitic. Finally, under intense pressure, he took it down. (“Timeline: Richard Falk's Anti-Semitic Cartoon, Denial, and Non-Apology Apology”, unwatch.org, July 7, 2011).

Almost eighteen months later, Falk was asked to resign from his position at Human Rights Watch (HRW) (“Human Rights Watch Expels Anti-Semitic Official Richard Falk”, JewishPress.com, December 19, 2012). The NGO UN Watch had campaigned hard against Falk being at HRW. They had argued that such an anti-Semite at HRW undermined HRW’s founding principles (“Human Rights Watch Should Remove Anti-Semitic U.N. Official Richard Falk from Its Board,” unwatch.org, December 17, 2012). HRW agreed. They fired Falk.

UN Watch has long argued that Falk is an extreme anti-Semite. They reference his support of Hamas, which is an identified terrorist organization whose stated goal is to destroy Israel. UN Watch told HRW that Falk has been condemned for spreading anti-Semitism and 9/11 conspiracies by British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay (ibid).

Falk has said that Jews run Washington (JewishPress, above). He has regularly accused Israel of plotting a ‘holocaust’ against ‘Palestinians’ (ibid). He calls Israel, ‘genocidal’ (“Israel is ‘genocidal,’ says UN’s Richard Falk in TV interview,” Times of Israel, December 17, 2013). He has berated Israel for demanding that Palestinians renounce violence (ibid).

 He has said that Israel treats ‘Palestinians’ the way German Nazis treated Jews (“Israel deports American academic”, The Guardian, December 15, 2008). He has endorsed a book that praised Adolf Hitler. This book, The Wandering Who?, by Gilad Atzmon, is so vile that 20 anti-Zionist activists condemned it as racist and anti-Semitic. Anti-Israel Palestinians condemned it for the same reason.

The book was so ugly that Tony Greenstein, a founding member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and a member of “Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods”, tried in vain to convince Falk to pull his endorsement of the book (see “UN’s Richard Falk meeting anti-Semite in London, condemned by Palestinian activists for racism”, unwatch.org, December 25, 2013). He failed to convince Falk to recant.

Now, Richard Falk will retire from his UN position. He will present his last ‘report’ to the UN later in March. The contents of that report have been released (“UN's Falk Accuses Israel of Inhuman Acts”, Arutz Sheva, February 19, 2014). He accuses Israel of apartheid and inhuman acts against the Arab.

The report is pure Richard Falk. It is, in other words, pure anti-Israel propaganda.

Of course, the UN will not call this final Falk attack an anti-Semitic screed. The UN won’t call it anti-Israel. They won’t call it demonizing.

They’ll call it an official report. Richard Falk will no doubt retire with a smile on his face.