On Monday, June 10, professor Richard Falk, UN human rights investigator for the Palestinian territories, accused Israel of imposing collective punishment on 1.75 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in his report to the UN Human Rights Council. He also criticized UN Watch — a pro-Israel organ affiliated with the American Jewish Committee — for its numerous defamatory remarks against his character. He ultimately called on the UN to investigate the organization to determine whether it qualifies as an independent organization per the UN’s standards. In response to Falk’s report, the US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, described Falk as “unfit to serve in his role as a UN special rapporteur.” According to Falk, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “joined in the attacks.”
While these accusations by the US ambassador and the behavior of UN Watch are expected and routine, perhaps more serious and not expected is that Falk suggests that the UN secretary-general has joined in the attacks. If this is true, which I hope it isn’t, then that is a very serious breach of the UN secretary-general’s role unless he has taken the accusations of UN Watch and the US ambassador’s assessment to be absolutely true.
