THE RICHARD FALK CASE, ISRAELI AUTHORITARIANISM AND WESTERN MEDIA

COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 18 Dec 2008

Jan Oberg - Sweden

Israel Expels UN Rights Envoy Who Compared Israelis to Nazis

(Notice how it says that Falk compared Israelis to Nazis. He never did. Notice how the Foreign Ministry’s Simona Helprin’s twisting of what she calls UN regulations goes unchallenged by the journalist).

And in the coming days, we immediately saw a worldwide outcry, Western human rights advocates, parliamentarians, foreign ministers and mainstream media protest and give wide coverage to this scandal…or silently – once again – turn a blind eye to "exceptionalist" Israel?

Here is the coverage by the International Herald Tribune,  exclusively questioning Falk’s credentials.

– and here Reuters’ – much more detailed and explaining the rules of the game – 1)  and  2).

And here the UN News Center’s coverage.

(Notice how the Israeli authorities harassed the 78-year old world expert on international law, human rights and peace).

Now, use the search engine of major media around the Western world and you will see that the big majority does not even mention the story.

Imagine that a UN envoy had been treated this way by Belarus or Zimbabwe – wouldn’t you have see hundreds of stories?

But what about the freedom of the Western press? Well, it obviously interprets freedom as the right to turn the blind eye on cruelties committed by the West and its allies, to disregard whatever is politically incorrect in the eyes of its owners and advertisers; and it thrives with the freedom to highlight, say, a pregnant man, a murder case, a celebrity event or a YouTube money-maker instead of millions of people lacking human rights for several decades.

Well, we knew it already – but it is necessary to point it out again and again: The free press freely and frequently fools anyone who cannot set off hours every day to learn for her- or himself about the reality behind the media deceptions (biases, false facts, omissions, propaganda, political correctness, repetitions, half-truths, and worse).

Let’s move on: Here comes another story highlighted by a TFF Associate but largely ignored by the mainstream, pro-Israel media:

Per Gahrton
Israel wil now be co-writing the European Union’s Middle East policies

Few have noticed the "Guidelines" for EU-Israeli co-operation decided on December 8-9. This amounts to a security pact, argues the author.

And more by Richard Falk. Judge for yourself whether he in any way deserved this harsh treatment and whether this is befitting a country often called a democracy.

Richard Falk – Press release by the UN Special Rapporteur and TFF Associate: Gaza – Silence is not an option

Richard Falk – UN Special Rapporteur:
Situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied s…

This report attempts to strike a balance between highlighting incidents that illustrate deeper general problems associated with the occupation and discussing patterns of conduct that appear to violate the human rights of the occupied people. Its special theme is the health situation.

GO TO ORIGINAL

Both Prof. Richard Falk and Prof. Jan Oberg are members of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace and Development. (TMS Editor)

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