January 26, 2011 – New York – AJC called on the UN to immediately dismiss Richard Falk after he publicly endorsed 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Falk is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories.

In his blog this month, Falk endorsed the slander of conspiracy theorists who claim that the terrorist attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed, were perpetrated and then covered up by the U.S. government and media.

“We agree wholeheartedly with the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassdor Susan Rice, who stated that Mr. Falk’s comments are ‘despicable and offensive’ and, like her, urge the UN to remove him from his position,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “Falk has long been a conspiracy-ridden and harmful figure who surely does not serve the best interests of the UN.”

AJC expressed outrage when Falk was first appointed Special Rapporteur in 2008, saying that his selection underscored the innate bias of the Human Rights Council, the UN organ that appointed him to examine a situation involving Israel.  "His longstanding record of hostility toward Israel, as well as his support of boycotts and sanctions against the Jewish state, should have disqualified him from consideration, but then again, tellingly, the world body was not looking for an objective and disinterested individual," Harris said.

“The UN must now, at long last, do the right thing and fire Richard Falk,” said Harris.