Richard Falk, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian affairs, stated that the brutal assault carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023 — in which approximately 1,200 Israelis, the majority of them civilians, were murdered — was “long overdue” and “entirely justifiable,” even acknowledging that it may have included breaches of international law.
In an interview released by the Indian outlet Countercurrents, Falk said, “To the extent that there is real evidence of atrocities accompanying the October 7 attack, those would constitute violations, but the attack itself is something that, in context, appears entirely justifiable and long overdue.”
Falk claimed that Western countries and Israel have deliberately removed the context of the October 7 massacre in an effort to shape global perception. “One of the tactics used by the West and Israel has been to almost succeed in decontextualizing October 7 so that it appears to have come out of the blue,” he said, citing UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ controversial remark that the attack did not occur “in a vacuum.”
He also endorsed the opinion of Zhang Jun, China’s Ambassador to The Hague, who asserted that Palestinians possess the “inalienable right” to wage “armed struggle” against Israel. “Yes, I think that’s a correct understanding of international law—one that the West, by and large, doesn’t want to hear about,” Falk remarked in support of Zhang’s assertion.
Falk has a documented record of hostility toward Israel and has been repeatedly accused of antisemitism due to his radical views. In 2011, the Anti-Defamation League condemned him for publishing a cartoon on his personal blog that depicted a dog wearing a kippah urinating on Lady Justice and gnawing on blood-soaked bones. Even UN official Navi Pillay, a fierce critic of Israel herself, called the image “antisemitic and objectionable.”
Although Falk later issued an apology for the cartoon, he has continued to spark outrage through a series of inflammatory claims, including blaming Israel for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and participating in radio programs hosted by conspiracy theorists who deny the Holocaust and question the events of 9/11. He has persistently defended both the use of violence by Palestinians and the actions of the Hamas terrorist organization.
{Matzav.com}