Today is apparently “pick the right guy for the job” day.
The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday appointed American Jewish law professor Richard A. Falk – who has compared Israel to the Nazis – as special investigator on Israeli actions in the territories for a six-year term.
Falk, who formerly taught international law at Princeton University, replaces South African professor John Dugard, who was an expert on apartheid…
“In a recent article, [Falk] stated that he did not think it to be “an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with the criminalized Nazi record of collective atrocity,” [Israeli UN/Geneva Ambassador Yitzhak] Levanon said.
“He has taken part in a UN fact-finding mission which determined that suicide bombings were a valid method of ‘struggle,'” Levanon said.
“He has disturbingly charged Israel with ‘genocidal tendencies,’ and accused it of trying to achieve security through ‘state terrorism,'” Levanon said. — Jerusalem Post
While I understand Levanon’s feeling that Falk might not exactly be a friend of Israel, I must point out that he is actually perfectly qualified for this particular job, which is basically defined as “Israel basher first-class”. As I wrote in a post about Dugard, his predecessor,
Nevertheless, one needs to understand that not only is he personally biased in favor of the Palestinians, but he is institutionally required to see only one side:
[Dugard writes] At the outset it is necessary to stress the scope and limitations of my mandate. I am required to report on violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by Israel in the OPT. This means that it is outside my mandate to report on violations of the human rights of Israelis by Palestinians, on the violation of human rights by the Palestinian Authority, or on human rights violations in the OPT not caused by Israel.
So the UNHRC is not as dumb as it looks.
Now check out this job application (H/T to Lise):
Several weeks ago, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem received a proposal that [Jimmy] Carter and [Kofi] Annan come to Israel along with two other Elders, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Irish President Mary Robinson, to pursue a truce with Hamas and promote peacemaking with the Palestinian Authority.
After much deliberation, the offer was politely refused, Yediot Achronot reported Wednesday.
“Israel believes that at this time, it would not be right to introduce more players into a diplomatic process that is already in a complex stage,” the newspaper quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying in a letter to The Elders.
Would Israel have to pay their expenses?
“The Elders”, in case you don’t know, are “an international conflict-resolution group”. Does anyone else think that the name is pretentious beyond belief? And wonder if requirements for membership go past age to include senility?
Technorati Tags: Israel, UN, Falk, Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan