Results in one day! Truly remarkable.I want to share good news: thanks to our advocacy, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has just expelled U.N. official Richard Falk -- the notorious Hamas supporter, 9/11 conspiracist and antisemite -- from one of its prestigious committees, where he helped played a key role in the organization's global work.
After UN Watch's open letter was published and went viral on the Internet, HRW did the right thing and finally fired Falk, deleting his name from their website listing of committee members.
I received confirmation this morning from an HRW representative, who informed me that Falk "no longer" holds the position, and that the HRW website "has now been updated to reflect that fact."
The timing and specifics were provided today by none other than Richard Falk himself, who admitted on his blog that, following UN Watch's protest yesterday, he was "asked to resign."
Falk said he was told that it was "because of my connection with the UN, which is contrary to HRW policy."
If that were the real reason, of course, he would have been removed long ago.
In fact, I was skeptical that UN Watch would be successful. On Monday, I even tweeted:
Does @UNwatch think @KenRoth will care that @HRW board member Richard Falk spouts anti-semitism and 9/11 conspiracies?(Ken Roth is the head of Human Rights Watch and has ignored much more important criticism in the past.)
Hillel Neuer of UN Watch responded after the news that HRW did the right thing:
If the right pressure is brought to bear you can make anyone care about their actions, and the price they will be made to pay.Anyone who has ever seen Hillel Neuer's videos where he stands up, alone, for truth and justice, in the hornets nest of the hypocritical and corrupt UN, knows that he is indefatigable. This is a much-deserved victory.
Now, to get the UN to be as thoroughly embarrassed by Richard Falk as HRW evidently was...