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by Algemeiner Staff
Michael Lynk speaking at the United Nations in New York. Photo: UN / Kim Haughton.
The UN special rapporteur on the Palestinians came under trenchant criticism on Wednesday over his connections to a Canadian political activist accused of antisemitism.
UN Watch — a Geneva-based NGO — called on the rapporteur, Michael Lynk, to denounce his longtime supporter Dimitri Lascaris, who was condemned for antisemitism last month by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as by the leaders of three other Canadian political parties and numerous civil society leaders.
UN Watch also released a video showing Lynk and Lascaris sharing a stage at a Winnipeg, Canada event on Sept. 8 – one day after Lascaris was castigated for targeting Jewish lawmakers with what Trudeau called “vile antisemitic smears.” Lascaris suggested that Jewish lawmakers were more loyal to Israel than to Canada.
During the presentation in Winnipeg, Lascaris claimed that Hamas was not a terrorist group, and that Hamas rockets fired into Israel amounted to “little more than glorified fireworks.”
When Lascaris added that “the Palestinian people have the right to use force to resist,” UN official Lynk took the microphone and said, “I agree with what Dimitri said with respect to the right to resist.”
Lascaris recently lost a libel suit in Canada concerning his meeting with the father of Palestinian terrorist Bahaa Alayan, after which Lascaris posted via social media that Alayan had been “killed extrajudicially by Israeli authorities.”
UN Watch called on Lynk to distance himself from Lascaris. “The UN was founded 73 years ago today to fight the scourge of racism, and no UN official should be legitimizing notorious antisemites like Dimitri Lascaris,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.
Neuer added: “If Lynk refuses to disavow Lascaris and denounce his antisemitism, we will request Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to investigate.”
