The ESCWA report by Richard Falk and Virginia Tilley, entitled:
Israel Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid , has been removed from the UN ECSWA website.
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) head Rima Khalaf was forced to resign for refusing to retract the damning report, calling Israel an apartheid state, an indisputable fact – written by Israel Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid , has been removed from the UN ECSWA website.distinguished academics Richard Falk and Virginia Tilley.
They proved their accusation “beyond a reasonable doubt” – based on definitions of apartheid by the International Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (the Apartheid Convention) and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Israel is guilty as charged.
In announcing her resignation, Khalaf said she acted after what she called “pressure from the secretary-general to withdraw a report accusing Israel of imposing an ‘apartheid regime’ on Palestinians.”
Remark from the autors of the report, Richard Falk and Virginia Tilley:
The decision by the UN Secretary General to remove this report points to the criminalization of the United Nations.
Censorship is applied by the UN body on the explicit instructions of the US government, which alongside Israel is responsible for extensive war crimes against the people of the Middle East. U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley accuses the UN of propagating anti-Israeli propaganda pointing to Prof. Richard Falk as a conspiracy theorist. (M. Ch. GR Editor)
”The United States is outraged by the [ESCWA] report … That such anti-Israel propaganda would come from a body whose membership nearly universally does not recognize Israel is unsurprising. That it was drafted by Richard Falk, a man who has repeatedly made biased and deeply offensive comments about Israel and espoused ridiculous conspiracy theories, including about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is equally unsurprising. The United Nations Secretariat was right to distance itself from this report, but it must go further and withdraw the report altogether. The United States stands with our ally Israel and will continue to oppose biased and anti-Israel actions across the UN system and around the world.
Richard Anderson Falk (born November 13, 1930)[1] is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University. He is the author or co-author of 20 books and the editor or co-editor of another 20 volumes. In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.” In this function he was authoritative to accuse Israel of crimes against humanity, which he did.
Resignation letter submitted by ESWA Executive Secretary Rima Khalaf in response to the formal request by UN Secretary General to withdraw the Israel commits the Crime of Apartheid – UN Israel commits the Crime of Apartheid – UN Agency Head Forced ResignationAgency Head Forced Israel commits the Crime of Apartheid – UN Agency Head Forced ResignationResignationIsrael commits the Crime of Apartheid – UN Agency Head Forced Resignationpublication of the report
Dear Mr. Secretary-General,
I have carefully considered your message conveyed through the Chef de Cabinet and assure you that at no point have I questioned your right to order the withdrawal of the report from our website or the fact that all of us working in the Secretariat are subject to the authority of its Secretary-General. Nor do I have any doubts regarding your commitment to human rights in general, or your firm position regarding the rights of the Palestinian people. I also understand the concerns that you have, particularly in these difficult times that leave you little choice.
I am not oblivious to the vicious attacks and threats the UN and you personally were subjected to from powerful Member States as a result of the publication of the ESCWA report “Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid”. I do not find it surprising that such Member States, who now have governments with little regard for international norms and values of human rights, will resort to intimidation when they find it hard to defend their unlawful policies and practices. It is only normal for criminals to pressure and attack those who advocate the cause of their victims. I cannot submit to such pressure.
Not by virtue of my being an international official, but simply by virtue of being a decent human being, I believe, like you, in the universal values and principles that have always been the driving force for good in human history, and on which this organization of ours, the United Nations is founded. Like you, I believe that discrimination against anyone due to their religion, skin color, sex or ethnic origin is unacceptable, and that such discrimination cannot be rendered acceptable by the calculations of political expediency or power politics. I also believe people should not only have the freedom to speak truth to power, but they have the duty to do so.
In the space of two months you have instructed me to withdraw two reports produced by ESCWA, not due to any fault found in the reports and probably not because you disagreed with their content, but due to the political pressure by member states who gravely violate the rights of the people of the region.
You have seen first hand that the people of this region are going through a period of suffering unparalleled in their modern history; and that the overwhelming flood of catastrophes today is the result of a stream of injustices that were either ignored, plastered over, or openly endorsed by powerful governments inside and outside the region. Those same governments are the ones pressuring you to silence the voice of truth and the call for justice represented in these reports.
Given the above, I cannot but stand by the findings of ESCWA’s report that Israel has established an apartheid regime that seeks the domination of one racial group over another. The evidence provided by this report drafted by renowned experts is overwhelming. Suffice it to say that none of those who attacked the report had a word to say about its content. I feel it my duty to shed light on the legally inadmissible and morally indefensible fact that an apartheid regime still exists in the 21st century rather than suppressing the evidence. In saying this I claim no moral superiority nor ownership of a more prescient vision. My position might be informed by a lifetime of experiencing the dire consequences of blocking peaceful channels to addressing people’s grievances in our region.
After giving the matter due consideration, I realized that I too have little choice. I cannot withdraw yet another well-researched, well-documented UN work on grave violations of human rights, yet I know that clear instructions by the Secretary-General will have to be implemented promptly. A dilemma that can only be resolved by my stepping down to allow someone else to deliver what I am unable to deliver in good conscience. I know that I have only two more weeks to serve; my resignation is therefore not intended for political pressure. It is simply because I feel it my duty towards the people we serve, towards the UN and towards myself, not to withdraw an honest testimony about an ongoing crime that is at the root of so much human suffering. Therefore, I hereby submit to you my resignation from the United Nations.
Respectfully
Rima Khalaf