Hillel Neuer of U.N. Watch clarifies some of the problems with Mary Robinson, the controversial pick to receive the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. Some of Robinson’s detractors have gotten the problems wrong, Neuer writes in his open letter to Robinson:
Dear Mrs. Robinson,
Recent statements by you and your defenders, amid the growing opposition to your receipt this Wednesday of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, require a response.According to the organization Physicians for Human Rights—for whom you recently worked on a report together with one of its board members, Richard Goldstone—you are being “vilified” by “false accusations.”
In your own words, “certain elements” of the Jewish community—those opposed to your selection—are subjecting you to “bullying.”
Mrs. Robinson, let’s be honest: no one has bullied you, and you are not being vilified by false accusations.
Instead, facts were presented and issues raised concerning your 1997-2002 tenure as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights—by mainstream Jewish organizations as well as by members of Congress on both sides of the aisle—which question the integrity of your actions on the Middle East, most famously during the lead-up to that dark moment in history known as the Durban conference.
Hurling ad hominem epithets won’t make these facts go away. Nor will misrepresenting your critics’ arguments and then purporting to refute them, which is what both you and your defenders have been doing.
If you are to receive this medal, the American people are entitled to know precisely what the issues are.
Read the rest of the letter here.
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