Aftermath of the 9/11 attack
Aftermath of the 9/11 attackIsrael news photo: Joel Meyerowitz/ US State

Tuesday, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice called on the UN to fire Richard Falk, a UN human rights official who has been harshly critical of Israel. The U.S. wants Falk fired over comments he made regarding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Falk wrote in a blog this month that there was an “apparent cover-up”  by U.S. authorities of facts about the attacks.

“In my view, Mr. Falk's latest commentary is so noxious that it should finally be plain to all that he should no longer continue in his position on behalf of the U.N.,” Rice said. His statements were “deeply offensive,” she added.

Rice noted that many diplomats had walked out in protest when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested U.S. involvement in the 9/11 attacks.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemned Falk's “preposterous” comments, which he termed “an affront to the memory of the more than 3,000 people who died in the attack.”

Falk's blog post was also condemned by UN Watch, which called on the UN to fire him. Falk is “a serial offender with zero credibility,” the group said.

Falk was appointed by the Human Rights Council as the special investigator on the conditions of Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. He was known to hold anti-Israel views prior to his appointment, and had accused Israel of treating Arabs in Gaza the way Nazis treated Jews during the Holocaust.

He accused Israel of “war crimes” over actions such as deporting Hamas terrorists from Jerusalem and destroying illegally built Arab homes.