Richard Falk is a “9/11 Truther” who has worked for the UN for quite a while, holding positions of great importance. He is currently serving in the third year of a six-year term as the United Nations Special Rapporteur “on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.”
The offensive cartoon posted below was published in late June on Mr. Falk’s blog:
Obviously this editorial cartoon is a slam to Israel (note the Star of David on the Kipa of the blood-thirsty dog, peeing on the sword-toting Statue of Justice).
When the cartoon drew the attention and ire of Geneva-based UN Watch, it was deleted from Falk’s blog and its publication was initially denied by Mr. Falk.
Realizing that he was caught, Falk issued this (sort-of) apology:
……To be clear, I oppose any denigration of a people based on ethnicity, race, religion, stage of development, and believe in the human dignity of all people in their individual and collective identity. Beyond this, if we are to have a sustainable human future we must also make peace with nature, and treat animals with as much respect as possible. This is both a sacred imperative of my idea of a spiritual life, but also an integral aspect of species survival on an increasingly crowded, overheated, and endangered planet.
Returning to the cartoon, I regret my carelessness, and apologize for any unintended hurt and outrage caused thereby.
The issue is obviously not going away and Richard Falk must know that as he has posted a second apology on his blog, trying to explain away the posting of the anti-semitic cartoon, this time using a curious excuse:
Because this unintentional posting of an anti-semitic cartoon has attracted such attention to my blog, and elicited a stream of venomous comments, I want to explain my mistake one last time. I do this without trying to excuse the carelessness involved, although I would point out that I removed the cartoon as soon as I became aware of its real content.
Even now I needed a magnifying glass to identify the anti-semitic character of the dog. My vision (at 80) is pretty good, but not good enough. It looked like a helmet to me, and the main visible symbol on the dog was the USA midriff covering. I found the cartoon through a Google image search on the page devoted to the International Criminal Court. Almost all the images there were about the Court or justice, and I assumed that this blindfolded goddess of justice was being led around by the USA. I am quite sure this cartoon would never have been allowed on the Google page if its true content had been realized, and it should be removed. Without a special effort, which admittedly I did not make, this true content is easy to overlook, and even when the initial objection to the cartoon was brought to my attention, and I looked at it, I did not appreciate the objectionable character of what was intended to be communicated.
I get it, this is all Google’s fault. Right.
