Why is Falk still at the UN?

Here are just a few things we know about Richard Falk, the UN Human Rights Council expert on Palestine**:

• He is a ‘9/11 Truther’, which means he questions Al-Qaida’s involvement in the horrific attacks on the Twin Towers, and instead suggests that the attack was a US-led ‘inside job’. For this he was condemned by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in 2011.
• Also in 2011, Falk published an anti-Semitic and anti-American cartoon on his website. When questioned about the cartoon, Falk first denied publishing it, before deleting it, and finally apologized for “unintentionally” posting the cartoon, which was condemned by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, as anti-Semitic.
• Falk was recently removed from his board position at Human Rights Watch, officially because of a conflict of interest, but in truth because his anti-Semitic and extremist record (which includes expressing support for Hamas) conflicted with HRW’s values.
• In April, following the Boston Marathon bombings, Falk wrote an article that went some way in justifying the attacks, positing that the bombings were retribution for US actions in the Middle East and Central Asia, and that “Those to whom evil is done, do evil in return.” And just for consistency, Falk made sure to throw Israel into the mix, somehow arguing that Tel Aviv’s close relationship with Washington is to blame for the lack of peace and justice worldwide. For his views, Falk was condemned, once again, by Ban Ki-Moon.

These are just a few of the things we know about Falk. At a minimum, we have determined that Falk has been condemned (or in Human Resources speak, received verbal warnings) by his own employer on multiple occasions – and from within different departments of his organization, including from the very top. So why is Richard Falk still working at the UN?

**Information largely gathered from UN Watch, a Geneva-based watchdog NGO sponsored by the AJC. Keep up the great work!