"Richard Falk has a long history of making outrageous statements, and frankly, has only tarnished the reputation and integrity of the United Nations," said Rick Roth, a spokesman for Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird on Thursday.
"Mr. Falk has not only done a disservice to the United Nations, but also to the Palestinian people. Canada calls on Mr. Falk to either withdraw this biased and disgraceful report - or resign from his position at the United Nations,” he added.
This comes as the UN's special rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, Falk, presented a report to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, saying that since a number of Israeli-owned and multinational corporations involved in building and maintaining the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories violate international human rights, a worldwide boycott should be launched against these companies.
According to his report, at least 13 firms including Volvo, Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola should be boycotted.
The US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice also described the UN expert’s remarks as both "irresponsible and unacceptable”.
The United States is the staunch ally of Israel and has previously vetoed almost all anti-Israeli resolutions.
The Israeli settlements are considered illegal by the UN and most of the international community. The settlement’s territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967, and are hence seen as being subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.
Not only has the presence and continued expansion of these settlements been a major source of international criticism against Israel, but they are also considered one of the main obstacles to Middle East peace.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
