The lead investigator for Human Rights Watch, the one that accused Israel of intentionally bombing kids on a beach, and using phosphorous as a weapon, and other Gaza war-crimes has been discovered to be an unapologetic, a world-class collector of Nazi keepsakes, and Neo-Nazi swag.
This news was brought to light thanks to pro-Israel bloggers, first reported by Elders of Ziyon blog, then reposted by Mere Rhetoric. Since word of Marc’s dubious personal life was revealed more than a week ago, it took until today for the NY Times to cover the story… on page A4. And not with the picture above, but with a standard head shot.
Back in 2006, I will never forget the allegations that he spread across the globe claiming Israel intentionally killed sunbathers in Gaza.
Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon analyst who’s now a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, said all the evidence he had gathered in Gaza pointed to an Israeli shell as the cause of the explosion.
“Based on what I have seen, I’d be shocked if it was anything other than that,” Garlasco said.
The IDF stood by their story that the blast was that of a bomb or mine placed by Palestinians on the beach. (See our articles here and here) The bomb was apparently part of an effort to prevent IDF ground forces from storing the beach. Remember that the ambulances arrived in seconds, that the videos and photos from the scene were suspicious, and that the bodies were retrieved before the investigation could be completed? Oh and that the IDF was not shooting in that area?
Oh but Marc Garlasco, the Nazi Hoodie sporting, 400-page-Nazi-Medals-book-writing, grandson of a Nazi, knew better. And predictably the world, personified by Kofi Anan, claimed it was Israel’s fault.
Human Rights Watch continues to disgrace itself, on the eve of Judgment Day. First they denied everything. Ooops. Now they suspended Mr. Garlasco WITH pay, pending an investigation. And blame the Jews for trying deflect attention away from the Israel.
When the story broke, HRW responded in what is rapidly becoming typical fashion: accusing critics of being motivated solely by the desire “to deflect attention from Human Rights Watch’s rigorous and detailed reporting on violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by the Israeli government.”…
the expressive message HRW is sending out is that it does not particularly care if Jewish persons and organizations find them biased, unfair, or hostile.
It was also revealed that Marc Garlasco’s ID on the Nazi Memento site was “FLAK88”. Afriend of mine informed me that when one sees an 88, it could be shorthand for HH (the eighth letter of the alphabet) i.e. “Heil Hitler.”
Though it also just be might be a reference to an infamous Nazi German large caliber anti-aircraft gun. According to Wiki “The German Condor Legion made extensive use of the FlaK 88 in the Spanish Civil War, where its usefulness as an anti-tank weapon and a general artillery …”. It also appears as a popular weapon in Call of Duty.
Does Marc Galasco’s admitted fetish for collecting old and new Nazi paraphernalia, wearing Nazi sweatshirts, leather coats, and who knows what else, writing a long book about Nazi medals make affect his opinions about Israel? Fo shizzle!
Marc Garlasco’s Booty:
are vape& 39
Has anyone shopped at Artisan Vapor Ecigarette Shop in 1422 NY-300?
where does cbd oil come from
Has anyone shopped at Phoenix Premium Vapor Products Vapor Store in 135 W Dares Beach Rd Suite 109?
Yeah but he’s not really deliberately giving himself any kind of appeal other than to other WW2 history geeks. I mean look, he’s not posting on Stormfront or any neo-nazi websites, he’s posting on World War 2 forums full of other lonely, middle-aged, losers. And he wasn’t really posting anything that would give any Nazi any kind of appeal. Unless you’re impressed when a 40 year old man says something like “It’s so COOL!” as if he were an 8 year old boy ogling a rubber wolfman mask.
It’s not even creepy in a Marylin-I-collect-Nazi-stuff-to-cash-in-on-my-pseudo-creepy-image-which-covers-for-the-shitty-music-I-make-wait-I-broke-up-with-Dita-Von-Teese?-Wtf-did-I-do?-Manson.
It’s just sad and weird.
They may been under the impression that you were in a religious group, but the fact that you dressed in long skirts and wore your hear back did not make you a defacto part of that group. Same thing with this shmuck here.
He’s no Nazi. What he is is a two-bit, hypocritical and incompetant former Pentagon analyst who has no moral standing to have criticized Israel, and should not have been affiliated in he least with ANY human rights group due to his past involvement in botched US targeted killing operations…but not a Nazi.
And HRW are stupid for not vetting someone thoroughly before sending them into the spotlight
Again, he’s been used as a reference on a site of undoubtful political inclination (you can find it via Google; as I said, I won’t give them any traffic) and that hoodie celebrates an ideology removed from a medal of honour for extraordinary bravery in battle. The hoodie most definitely is not what one of his forefathers had been awarded. It’s a statement, and not a fashion statement at that.
As for my being perceived to be a religious person, it was linked to clothing common of – but not limited to – religious circles whereas the inscription on that hoodie is rather telling.
Come on, guys, the dude’s not a Nazi. He’s just a creepy overgrown kid who collects Nazi crap to make himself feel like a big man, probably because he was wedgied too much in high school. I’d bet he has a rumpus room full of this crap, complete with a highly detailed campaign map of Russia next to a half-eaten bag of cheetos and flat Mellow Yellow.
There’s a whole subculture of weirdos who collect WW2 crap, Nazi and Ally, and even re-enact battles with little pellet guns. They are what they are: creepy losers.
That Iron Cross hoodie (from the picture showing how “cool” and “badass” the guy is by chugging a beer)? You can buy the same thing from any chopper shop for 40 bucks. Das Eiserne Kreuz means Iron Cross in German, it has a long history in Germany as was previously stated.
Flak88? He’s referring to the 8.8 cm anti-aircraft/anti-tank gun of WW2. Flak cannon. 8.8 cm. “88s” in military history lingo. It was a big thing in the war because it was used so often.
Look, is the guy completely clueless? Of course. Is he a creepy idiot? Most definately. Does he spend weekends in his moms basement eating microwave burritos and discussing Operation Barbarossa with a guy dressed like one of the Knights of Ni from Monty Python? Could be.
But is he a white-power proclaiming, pillow-case wearing, tiny mustached, Goebbels grubber? No.
And Rabbi Yonah, if you want to deprive him of a podium of righteousness, take a look at his wikipedia entry (yes he has one!), and if you take a look you’ll see just how full of it he is. Podium of righteousness? The guy couldn’t righteous himself out of a paper bag.
Here’s a selection.
“In 2003, Garlasco was responsible for dropping two, laser-guided, 500-kilogram bombs on a house in the Tuwaisi, neighborhood of Basra, Iraq, that he believed to contain Saddam Hussein’s cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali, the man responsible for launching poison gas attacks on Kurds in Iraq beginning in 1988. Watching the attack via satellite form a room in the Pentagon, Garlasco threw his arms in the air and shouted: “I just blew up Chemical Ali!” However, Chemical Ali was not in the house; 17 other people were killed instead”
“Garlasco explained the calculus of civilian deaths in high value targeting to the television news program 60 Minutes this way, “Our number was 30. So, for example, Saddam Hussein. If you’re gonna kill up to 29 people in a strike against Saddam Hussein, that’s not a problem. But once you hit that number 30, we actually had to go to either President Bush, or Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld.” Garlasco told the interviewer that prior to the invasion of Iraq, he personally recommended 50 high-value targets -Iraqi officials for air strikes, but, according to Garlasco, none of the targets on his list was actually killed. Rather, ‘a couple of hundred civilians at least’ were killed in strikes he recommended.”
My favorite part. And remember this guy is the military analyst for the human rights organization criticizing Israel for killing civilians even though terrorists were using them as human shields.
“He responded to the question “If so much care is being taken why are so many civilians getting killed?” by stating “Because the Taliban are violating international law, and because the U.S. just doesn’t have enough troops on the ground. You have the Taliban shielding in people’s homes. And you have this small number of troops on the ground. And sometimes the only thing they can do is drop bombs.â€
Basically it’s the same defense that the IDF has used, you know, but worded a bit differently. About what you’d get as a quote if our chief spokesman had been hit on the head with a hammer and lost all compassion and subtlety through deep neurological trauma.
I still think there’s a world of a difference between being interested in history, collecting old items etc. and deliberately giving yourself a neo-Nazi appeal, “White Pride” aside.
When I used to always wear skirts at work and kept my hair braided back, several students asked whether I belonged to any particular religious group. I don’t, but I certainly couldn’t blame them for being under that impression from my choice of outfit.
The hoodie, as Froylein expertly states, is nazi.
Garlasco is a nazi fetishist.
Depriving him of his podium of righteousness is a great step towards raising the bar on truth.
The man is simply full of it.
Rabbi, I hate to disagree with you but… The hoodie is many things, but it aint Nazi. I was talking to my friend Mike (hello Mike!) and he was telling me about one of his family’s prized possessions. During WWI, Mike’s grandfather was a fighter pilot for the German air force. One fine day he got shot down and survived. For this and other accomplishments he was awarded the Iron cross. Mike and his family are of course old skool yekke residents of Jerusalem. They don’t see grandpa’s Iron Cross as some kind of Nazi fetish thing. It’s a family heirloom. Garlasco isn’t a Nazi and it’s not a crime to be a Nazi fetishist – it’s just in really poor taste given what he does.
Tom, I know all that, but a white hoodie with an Iron Cross and the German “Das Eiserne Kreuz” in Gothic fracture is most definitely neo-Nazi garb you won’t find among the sportswear at Dr. Jay’s or at a store selling Bundeswehr Luftwaffe items. This piece of garment is a political statement, and commenters with an “88” in their email addresses who claimed it was their year of birth have been given less of a benefit of the doubt on here.
It might be interesting to note that Garlasco is referenced on a site that sells Nazi-era only Wehrmacht medals / facsimiles for his expertise. I won’t link here to give that guy more traffic than he deserves, but that fish is rotten to the core.
The German Air Force still features the Iron Cross on its planes. The medal has a pre-Nazi history; a Jewish friend of mine owns the Iron Cross bearing Wilhelm II’s initials that his grandad was awarded in WWI.
A hoodie displaying the Iron Cross paired with Gothic fracture saying “Das Eiserne Kreuz” is neo-Nazi gear. No offence, CK.
No offense Froylein, but the Iron Cross motif is a popular one amongst skaters and surfers. I myself have a number of items by a company called Third Rail that feature an Iron Cross in the logo. Yeah. Third RAIL. And I aint no Nazi. I’d fucking kill them with my teeth if I could.
The hoodie he’s wearing in the picture, most definitely, is not a piece of old militaria (jerseys were unknown to Germany then as were hooded pullovers), but a piece of neo-nazi merchandise. Choosing an outfit like that goes beyond a hobby or an odd interest in historical objects. It’s a political statement in and of itself.
🙄
Muffti: the man is a poet. “Chin up, shoulders back, you got a body like a Marshall stack”
Xisnotx, regarding Lemmy, all Muffti can say is
you make some good points, ck. we won the war, but they were definitely snappier dressers.
I wonder about the 88 too, but i don’t know if it’s impossible he could not have known. either way, i don’t see it precludes him from using “flak88” as his moniker. He is a gun nut, & that’s his grandpa’s gun. As far as it being unfortunate given his line of work — he is a military man, he worked for the Pentagon. He chose targets in Iraq for us to bomb.
btw, I looked thru a 17-page PDF from his book on his website. There’s not much annotation, but on a certain medal, he took special note of the medal’s connection to one of the plotters against Hitler.
Look, Garlasco’s reports have been open to criticism but in that respect his output hasn’t been significantly different than that of many other well meaning human rights observers. His hobby is an unfortunate one given his line of work and his moniker, Flak88, is just dumb. I’m assuming he has no admiration for Hitler but he should have known, he couldn’t have NOT known, of the significance of the 88 in Nazi circles.
But yeah, what muffti said. I remember when I was a kid, I used to draw Nazis and swastikas ALL the time! All that Nazi imagery, it’s so kitsch, so perfectly evil and bad ass looking! Hitler was a failed artist but the Nazis were geniuses at imagery. Look at Leni Riefenstahl’s work. The Nazis were made to be filmed, it was all so dramatic and so detail oriented, from the color schemes, to the Hugo Boss designed uniforms, the shiny jackboots, even the helmets! Even the lowliest grunt looked bad ass. And as a society we all kind of fetishize the Nazis don’t we? Inglorious Basterds and the 8 zillion Nazi themed movies that preceded it, you know what I mean.
Still, I take no pleasure in the news that Garlasco was suspended from his job at HRW because of a stupid hobby. This does not advance the cause of truth by one iota.
the SS leather jacket being “cool” is creepy.
Muffti — your Pantera proclivity suggests you must at least be familiar with the oeuvre of Lemmy Kilmeister of Motorhead. Are you aware of his fetish for Nazi memorabilia — what do you think of it?
Here, check out this editorial.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/secret+motives/1998271/story.html
Sad coincidence, then. The 88 code is well known in far Right circles.
Garlasco’s grandfather worked with a German anti-aircraft gun, the Flak88. He even named his car Flak88. Maybe a more plausible explanation that the “HH” connotation.
Muffti has to agree with CK. This is just the fallacy of ad hominem (or maybe we can coin ad collectivum. You can question the man’s taste if you like but Muffti doesn’t see why it’s ok to question character someone in order to question their assertions.
Flak88 could use some Blue 88s.
May I add that “Flak” refers to a gun / cannon used by Third Reich military – mostly volunteers – to take down allied planes? People “an der Flak” usually were ideologically driven rather than drafted.
Not that it matters, but I believe two of the three depicted uniforms are US uniforms.
Dear Tired,
Thank you for the brilliant comments! And your Spanish “adios shit heads” is really impressive.
Marc Garlasco is a Nazi fetishist. He is biased against Israel.
You on the other hand are an anti-Semitic maggot.
Happy Rosh Hashanah!
Oh, of course, recently I think there have been some attempts to restrict visits to Palestinian prisoners because of the way Hamas has treated Gilad Schalit for three years WITHOUT A SINGLE VISITOR. And of course, any prisoner in Israel has access to Israel’s High Court and there’s no shortage of lawyers who will represent them. You know, even the female prisoners like Ms. Tamimi who helped blow up people in restaurants. Just because they were there. And Jewish.
Indeed, “Tired of your Bullshit,” that was superbly said. I assume you’re one of the people attached to the film festival “protest” or to CAIA or Palestine House or one of those places. That’s great because I have a feeling that you would be in support of “protesting” this film about Palestinian prisoners. It was covered by that right-wing rag, Ha’aretz:
Here is a section of the review, but please read it all. Thanks.
Well said tired of your bullshit.
dahlia,themiddle and the rest of the gang of idiots at jewlicious
in israel there was the phenomenon of stalag pornography, not to mention the holocaust porn industry was located in israel(yes jews are good at making money,lol)
so you israeli jews have no right to criticise him
your nation is built on a pack of lies, you have no real claim to anything
let me give you an example of your morality
israeli prison officials regularly strip serach palestinian women prisoners in front of male wardens just to humiliate them, and i am not talking about high security prisoners, they are kept in solitary confinement
you people are animals, no more jokes, you are simply animals, nothing more, you use the worlds powers like america and NATO to wage war for you, and just like your pious ancestors, you are going to get what you deserve, a DIVINE ass kicking
adios shit heads
What Dahlia said. The question is whether he can be objective. Maybe so, but there’s no question some doubts are raised. HRW has become an easy target. They appoint people with an obvious anti-Israel bias to head their team in Israel and a researcher who has a “passion” for Nazi era chuchkies. Oh, and they go fundraising in Saudi Arabia and tell their hosts about how they are critical of Israel as part of their pitch.
If they didn’t have such a great name, they would have been off every journalist’s list a long time ago.
ck – If you collect communist paraphenalia and then attack the West for industrialism and capitalism, I would say that there is a clear bias there. However, you don’t.
Putting that aside, it would be one thing if he was a scholar of the Holocaust. It is a known fact that within the realm of Holocaust studies outside of Israel and Jewish studies circles, one is expected to use only perpetrator sources (). As such, if he were a orld expert on the Holocaust, I would find his little collection revolting but rather understandable. However, given that he is NOT an expert on the Holocaust, his intense interest in the subjectto the point of collecting Nazi paraphenalia yields questions as to his ability to be neutral when it comes to ANYTHING involving Jews.
I dunno. I met Marc Garlasco, looking at his business card as we speak. He seemed like a pretty reasonable and congenial guy. I myself collect some rather odd things like Communist era paraphernalia as well as flags and insignia of Palestinian terrorist organizations. Does that mean anything? I don’t think so. Flak88 is a really unfortunate nickname given that in Nazi circles, 88 is a euphemism for Heil Hitler, but when I first read about this story, I didn’t feel immediately compelled to write a post about it. Maybe it’s because I met the dude or maybe its because it really has no bearing on the validity or lack of validity of HRWs work and allegations. Also I was in the midst of a big move which I am glad to say is finally over. Gaaah.