Five Towns students protest Falk comments

Students from Rambam and Shalhevet high schools protested Richard Falk’s anti-American comments outside of the United Nations on Monday.

Falk, a special rapporteur for the UN’s Human Rights Council, recently claimed that the tragic Boston Marathon bombings were retribution for American foreign policy in Afghanistan. A special rapporteur works on behalf of various regional and international organizations with specific mandates to investigate, monitor and recommend solutions to human rights problems.

“He saw Boston as political; we saw it as people,” said Hillel Goldman, assistant principal at Rambam, referring to Falk’s comments.

Students rallied in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, outside of the UN, chanting “Falk turned his back on America” and “Don’t Talk, Falk.” “We are protesting Falk’s comments because we can’t afford to have UN officials justifying acts of terrorism,” said Rambam sophomore Eric Wietschner.

Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, dean of Rambam in Lawrence and Shalhevet in North Woodmere, said, “it is unconscionable that Richard Falk, who is a UN official, can justify the Boston bombings by blaming American servicemen for fighting terrorism overseas. It is the responsibility of all freedom-loving Americans to ensure that this anti-American be removed from his post immediately.”

Letters of support from Pennsylvania Congressman Mike Kelly were read and the event concluded with students chanting, “God bless America.”