October 25, 2012

(JTA) — The Anti-Defamation League called on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to distance his office from a report targeting companies doing business with Israel.

The ADL says the report by U.N. Special Rapporteur Richard Falk, which focuses on private corporations doing business in Israel, is one of the hallmarks of the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign to pressure companies doing business with Israel.

The report, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories since 1967,” was scheduled to be presented Thursday to the U.N. General Assembly.

“While the issue of human rights violations experienced by Palestinians is a legitimate area of concern and inquiry, Richard Falk has repeatedly abused his position as special rapporteur to unleash unrestrained hatred and disdain for Israel,” said Abraham Foxman, ADL’s national director. “This malevolence permeates his official reports and, at times, his personal statements, which include the use of anti-Semitic imagery and comparisons of Israeli actions to those of the Nazis.”

As special rapporteur, ADL said, Falk has made it his mission to single out Israel as a human rights violator while using the imprimatur of the United Nations to advance a biased agenda fueled by anti-Israel animus that erodes the credibility of the U.N.

“The United Nations should not be complicit in this wholly unjustified effort to single out Israel,” Foxman wrote in a letter to Ban on the eve of the session devoted to Falk’s report.

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