As documented on numerous other blogs - here and here and here for starters - it appears that this person and this person are one and the same. So what does this tell us about the Human Rights Watch researcher and virulent Israel critic, Marc Garlasco?
Human Rights Watch angrily denies that Garlasco, who has posted using the name “Flak88″ on a German military memorabilia forum, is a Nazi. Speaking to Ma’ariv, Emma Daly, Communications Director at Human Rights Watch, confirmed “that Flak88 and Marc Garlasco are the same person. With that she clarified that the organization denies the suggestions regarding Garlasco’s tendencies. ‘Marc Garlasco is not pro-Nazi,’ said Daly, ‘These allegations are monstrous. He does not delve into Nazi memorabilia. Garlasco is a student of military history and he has an interest in military history.’”
That may be true - it still doesn’t explain the Flak88 moniker. Yes, the German military used Flak 88mm anti-aircraft guns. But the digits “88″ are also neo-Nazi code for “Heil Hitler.” And given the variety of artillery pieces available to the German military, is it just an unfortunate coincidence that Garlasco picked the one gun whose name resonates, for neo-Nazis at least, with a double meaning?
And even if he isn’t a Nazi, he communicates with ease with those who seemingly are. On the German Combat Awards forum, Garlasco/Flak88 tells another user, named Giel, that he’s “sorry I missed you when I was in Brugge a few weeks ago!” This is the same Giel whose chosen symbol is a Nazi eagle atop a swastika and who directs his friends to a photo in which he can be identified as “the guy in the black shirt.”
I am not someone who believes that HRW is rotten to the core. This is an organization that has carried out important work and still does. But both the Saudi fundraising debacle and now this scandal with Garlasco demand more - much more - than director Ken Roth’s standard bleating about being pressured by the “Israel Lobby.”
Serious students of military history may collect Nazi artifacts, but I don’t think they go around modelling in it or blog about doing so. HRW’s attempt at spin is a sad joke.
This is total nonsense. It’s malicious and defamatory and borderline libelous, to be honest. The mere fact that someone collects a certain kind of military artifact does not make them loyal to what those artifacts represent. Saying Garlasco is a Nazi b/c he owns Nazi medals is like saying someone interested in cave paintings is a neanderthal. It simply makes no sense! Instead of dragging this man’s name through the mud, perhaps it would be better to consider his record, his position at a leading Human Rights NGO (which, despite claims to the contrary, is not anti-Israel since they criticize Israeli and Palestinian tactics alike when either cross the line of legality), and the fact that he COLLECTS stuff. That’s as far as it goes. People study and write about and read about and are interested in every evil figure and vile empire that ever existed, Nero, Ghengis Khan, Sadam Hussein, Stalin, Hitler. This interest does not equal acceptance or agreement or support in any way and to argue otherwise is totally illogical!
Oh. My. God. If I was in charge of PR at HRW, I wouldn’t know whether to shit or piss right now.
And no, Sara, there’s a difference between disinterested collecting and wearing a sweatshirt with Nazi insignia while chugging a beer at a BBQ (see Ben’s link). And check out this exchange captured by HP…
“skip
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Registration Date: 19.12.2005
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Love the sweatshirt Mark. Not one I could wear here in germany though (well I could but it would be a lot of hassle)
Skip
Flak88
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Registration Date: 27.11.2006
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Everyone thinks it is a biker shirt!
08.12.2006 13:56
skip
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Registration Date: 19.12.2005
Posts: 3,958
Location: mix
Yeh, were you come from but imagine walking around in Berlin with “das Eisene Kreuz” written across your cheat. Either you get beaten to pulp by a group of rampaging Turks or the police arrest you on suspicion of being a Nazi
Skip”
“Everyone thinks it’s a biker shirt,” i.e. Marc saying most of my fellow Americans are to ignorant to realize I’m wearing Nazi insignia.
Sara, I don’t think he’s a Nazi either. There’s no evidence for it. But he does fetishize Nazi memorabilia. There is something very, very creepy about a guy who collects swastikas.
Mr Garlasco is a very serious collector. He’s not the sort of dilettante who just buys stuff from dealers. Every piece of Nazi memorabilia came from Nazis originally, and a *serious* collector would be trying to source items from these guys or their families. Does he have dealings with them? Does he ever discuss the Holocaust with them, or their attitude to Jews? Or does he just treat it as ordinary business? I find it weird to imagine someone working in human rights who could compartmentalise his life that way.
Finally, even though I don’t think he’s a Nazi, I am sure that many of the collectors he knows and hangs out with are neo-Nazis or Nazi sympathizers - because they often have an interest in these things. I think it’s fair to ask whether their views could influence his attitude towards Jews. How would he respond if one of them made an antisemitic joke in his presence? It’s a weird and creepy hobby, and it necessarily raises all sorts of questions about him.
Sara “This is total nonsense. It’s malicious and defamatory and borderline libelous, to be honest. The mere fact that someone collects a certain kind of military artifact does not make them loyal to what those artifacts represent. Saying Garlasco is a Nazi b/c he owns Nazi medals is like saying someone interested in cave paintings is a neanderthal.”
Sara, if you can’t see a difference between a “human rights” worker interested in Nazi symbols and military artifacts and say a painter interested in cave painting then I question your ability to reason.
Moreover, Garalsco wasn’t just collecting Nazi artifacts he was also posting on pro-Nazi websites and collecting would be Nazi friends.
Given his sympathies, that such a man also interested himself in defaming the Jewish State is understandable. That the people at ‘human rights” watch make apologies for him is not understandable at all.
There is something fundamentally dishonest about a “human rights” organization hiring a man who cherishes the symbols of the worse violator of human rights in human history.
Would “human rights watch” hire anyone who collects KKK relics and posts on David Duke’s website?
I just want to extend Joe’s argument because I think it nails the issue: the man may well have no Nazi sympathies, we can concede that, but it’s still highly problematic that HRW would show such lack of judgment and prudence in giving a critical I/P desk (where so much depends on perceptions of fairness) to someone with such a creepy hobby.
Check the IP address of “Sara” and you will probably find it belongs to HRW.ORG. Other blogs have had exactly the same message and the same IP address.
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2009/09/hrw-sends-out-sockpuppets.html
Sara = HRW.
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2009/09/hrw-sends-out-sockpuppets.html
Consider yourself enlightened.
Yay I was debating with CTRL-C + CTRL-V!
His nick was Flak88, 88 is a very well known code word for HH or Heil Hitler. So this NGO response is a joke gimme a break other idiots may buy their s*it I rather not