Jewish groups demand sacking of UN envoy over anti-Israel report

Jewish organizations have called for the dismissal of John Dugard, a United Nations official in charge of reporting on "the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories". In his latest report, Dugard writes that "Israel's defiance of international law poses a threat not only to the international legal order but to the international order itself" and that this was "no time for appeasement on the part of the international community." Dugard also makes comparisons between Israel and the South African Apartheid regime. In the current report, he states that Israel's policies were "beyond the scope of apartheid law." UN Secretary-General Annan has distanced himself from Dugard, whose report is due to be delivered today to the General Assembly in New York. Israeli officials and Jewish organizations are indignant, and the Anti-Defamation League called for his sacking.