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One man, the UN, Israel and an Expulsion

It must be some sort of policy that Israel has put in place to increasingly be seen as some sort of rogue State.

Criticise Israel, even if you are the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Jewish and a professor from Princeton University - and you will still get turned back at the airport in Israel and expelled from the country.

What arrogance and conceit that Israel can simply do what it wants no matter what!

Professor Falk writes of his experience in a piece in The Guardian - none to pleasant - at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel:

"On December 14, I arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel to carry out my UN role as special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories.

I was leading a mission that had intended to visit the West Bank and Gaza to prepare a report on Israel's compliance with human rights standards and international humanitarian law. Meetings had been scheduled on an hourly basis during the six days, starting with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, the following day.

I knew that there might be problems at the airport. Israel had strongly opposed my appointment a few months earlier and its foreign ministry had issued a statement that it would bar my entry if I came to Israel in my capacity as a UN representative.

At the same time, I would not have made the long journey from California, where I live, had I not been reasonably optimistic about my chances of getting in. Israel was informed that I would lead the mission and given a copy of my itinerary, and issued visas to the two people assisting me: a staff security person and an assistant, both of whom work at the office of the high commissioner of human rights in Geneva.

To avoid an incident at the airport, Israel could have either refused to grant visas or communicated to the UN that I would not be allowed to enter, but neither step was taken. It seemed that Israel wanted to teach me, and more significantly, the UN a lesson: there will be no cooperation with those who make strong criticisms of Israel's occupation policy."

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