An internationally reputed scholar and the top United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) official, Richard Falk has frequently highlighted the achievements of the founder of the Islamic Republic through his writings and media interviews.
35 years ago, an American Jew professor and currently the top United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) official, Richard Falk, paid a courtesy call to Imam Khomeini, living in exile in Paris. He was accompanied by two other American leaders, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark and Philip Luce, an anti-war activist.
That short meeting became a “Zionist curse” upon Richard Falk. To this day, he has been demonized by Jewish lobby groups in the US, Canada, and almost every European country. In recent years, the foreign ministers from the US, Canada, France, Britain and Australia including Jewish-controlled human rights groups UN Watch and the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) have called the UN secretary-general to fire Falk from his post.
Last year, Jewish lobby groups slammed Richard Falk for accusing Israel of committing genocide in occupied Palestine during an interview at Russian Television. Falk considers himself to be an “American Jew”, whose first loyalty is to United States and not to Israel. However, like fellow American Jewish scholar Noam Chomsky, Falk also believes in Zionist narrative of Holocaust, and that Israel has the “right to exist”, even if it’s against international law.
On February 3, 2014, Al-Jazeera published Falk’s impression of Imam Khomeini as result of that meeting 35 years ago. Falk titled his article, Ayatullah Khameini: A rare encounter with a true revolutionary. Fidel Castro, then president of Cuba, on hearing the news of death of Imam Khomeini, had called him “World’s greatest Revolutionary Leader”.
“While we were in Iran, the Shah left the country signaling the end of his monarchy, which occasioned at the time the largest mass display of joy that I have ever witnessed, with millions peacefully marching on the streets of Tehran in a festive mood,” says Falk.
“Leaving such a scene, and having the opportunity to meet with Ayatollah Khomeini climaxed this experience of touching the live tissue of revolution. In Iran, with crowds chanting his name and carrying posters bearing his image, it was clear he was the iconic inspiration of the revolution that had somehow managed to overthrow one of the strongest and most oppressive regimes in the world,” adds Falk.
“We had little sense, however, of the sort of future Khomeini envisioned for himself or what his hopes were for the revolution. What was obvious from the moment we were seated cross-legged on the ground within his tent was the strength of his arresting presence, especially his shining eyes that seemed almost black,” says Falk.
“What struck us immediately was his active mind and sharp intelligence. He wanted to know what we thought were American intentions now that the Shah was gone, and whether the United States was ready to respect the outcome of Iran’s revolution. In turn, we asked about his hopes for the “Iranian Revolution”. His response fascinates me to this day,” adds Falk.
“First of all, he immediately corrected us forcefully pointing out that what had just been completed was “an Islamic Revolution”, that is, asserting as primary an identity associated with religious and cultural affinities rather than emphasising the nationalist agenda of regime change that was the common way of interpreting what had happened in Iran. Khomeini went on to say that the importance of the unfolding of events in Iran related to the entire region. Prefiguring the future tensions in the region, Khomeini spoke disparagingly about the Saudi Arabian dynasty, calling it “decadent” and out of touch with its people,” says Falk.
Richard Falk ends his memoir by saying: “In this respect, Ayatollah Khomeini was a true revolutionary even if his goal was to turn the clock back when it came to modernity, including secular values.”
Imam Khomeini knew that the so-called “western modernity and secular values”, are based on Western Pagan culture – and thus are incompatible with the true teachings of Islam.
The 1979 Islamic Revolution did not turn the “clock back” (even though Muslim power ruled a greater part of the known world from the 8th to early 18th century when Western society was passing through its Dark Age) – it has transformed Islamic Republic into the most powerful regional power.