Going after Israel (again)

National Post
Wednesday, April 09, 2008

In theory, the United Nations Human Rights Council, established in March, 2006, was supposed to correct the failings of its farcically biased predecessor, the UN Human Rights Commission. The now-defunct commission, whose membership included at one point or another such champions of human rights as China, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Syria and even Sudan, spent most of its time criticizing Israel for alleged crimes against the Palestinians while conveniently overlooking the (actual) crimes against humanity being perpetrated by its own members. Unfortunately, but perhaps not unexpectedly, the UN Human Rights Council has followed the same path: By the end of its first year of existence, the council had passed nine resolutions condemning Israel -- and had not spoken out against another country. In June, 2006, it voted unanimously to establish a special rapporteur on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a resolution sponsored (surprise, surprise) by the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Later this year, law professor Richard Falk will assume that post.

Mr. Falk comes to his new job with a decided prejudice against Israel. In his writings, he has repeatedly criticized the Jewish state for waging what he calls a "holocaust" against Palestinians. Indeed, in 2007 he published a paper entitled, "Slouching toward a Palestinian holocaust."

Explaining his harsh words toward Israel, Mr. Falk recently stated, "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." But these examples merely highlight the Human Rights Council's singular obsession with Israel. In Darfur, hundreds of thousands have died. In China, Tibetans have lived under Beijing's jackboot for decades. But both areas have been largely ignored by a Human Rights Council singularly obsessed with Israel.

Mr. Falk is living proof of what many have long known: "United Nations" and "human rights" are contradictions in terms.