"A British campus speaking tour came to an abrupt end on Tuesday for Professor Richard Falk, when Middlesex University canceled his appearance scheduled for Wednesday.
The tour was intended to promote his book, 'Palestine's Horizon: Towards a Just Peace.' Falk is a former UN special investigator on human rights in the Palestinian territories who is highly critical of both Israel and the United States. Born in New York to a Jewish family, Falk is a professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University.
Falk arrived in Britain fresh from a major row about a report he co-authored on behalf of the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), which concluded that Israel was imposing an 'apartheid regime' on the Palestinians. After protests from Israel and Washington's UN ambassador Nikki Haley, the report was disowned by the UN secretary-general and withdrawn from the ESCWA website. ESCWA head Rima Khalaf resigned in protest. Haley described Falk as 'a man who has repeatedly made biased and deeply offensive comments about Israel and espoused ridiculous conspiracy theories.'
Middlesex, whose campus is in the heart of the Jewish community in northwest London, cited safety reasons for canceling the event, where Falk, who has been denounced three times for anti-Semitism by the British government, was due to be hosted by the law faculty....
Behind the cancellations lay furious activity by the Jewish community after a tumultuous event for Falk at the London School of Economics (LSE) Monday night, at which Jewish students were verbally abused and one of Falk's supporters allegedly told students to read the works of notorious Holocaust denier David Irving...
On Monday night, LSE's Israel Society published a statement on social media saying that it was 'appalled by the treatment of Jewish students.'...
The Campaign Against Antisemitism lodged formal complaints about Falk with LSE and the Council for Higher Education. It said Falk should never have been considered as a speaker."