It took five days, but United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon finally said he “rejects” United Nations Human Rights Council official Richard Falk’s comments that cited “the American global domination project: and US-Israeli relations as provocations for the bombings.

Falk, a Jewish American who has long history of accusing Israel of “war crimes” and “apartheid, wrote as “long as Tel Aviv has the compliant ear of the American political establishment, those who wish for peace and justice in the world should not rest easy.”

Israeli officials as well as the UN Watch organization protested his remarks, but Ban’s spokesman simply stated that Falk “speaks independently” and does not necessarily represent the United Nations.

Further condemnations of Falk appeared in the media, including The Wall Street Journal, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations tweeted, “Someone who spews such vitriol has no place at the UN.”

Ban‘s spokesman finally announced five days Falk’s article, “The Secretary-General rejects Mr. Falk’s comments [which] undermine the credibility and the work of the United Nations.”

An Moroccan immigrant to the United States who plotted to blow up synagogues in New York City was sentenced on Friday to five years in jail and faces deportation after his release.

Mohammed Mamdouh pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to commit terrorism and criminal weapon possession. He was an accomplice to Algerian immigrant Ahmed Ferhani, who last month was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Ferhani and Mamdouh were arrested after they bought three firearms and what they believed was a live grenade from an undercover police detective. They reportedly had planned to disguise themselves as Hassidic Jews in order to get into the synagogues.

They are the first people to be convicted under a state antiterrorism law passed following the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Their intent was to create chaos and to intimidate and coerce Jews living in New York City, and thereby send a message far beyond New York,” prosecutor Gary Galperin told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus in court.

A second case brought under the state anti-terrorism statute involves a Dominican-born American citizen who was arrested last year for allegedly recorded buying bomb-making materials and plotting to target police stations in the New York metropolitan area. He has pleaded not guilty, and his case is still pending.

Americans have opened their hearts and wallets one week after the Boston marathon terrorist attack and have donated more than $21 million for the victims.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced last week the creation of The One Fund Boston, which Fox News said has raised $15 million from corporations and another $6 million from public donors.

Several websites also have been created to raise funds, the news outlet reported. Friends and relatives of newlywed Patrick and Jessica Downes, each of whom lost a leg below the knee, have raised $680,000 for their medical care.

Another website was dedicated to eight-year-old Martin Richard, who died in the bombing, with $230,000 raised so far. His sister lost a leg in the terrorist attack, and her mother suffered serious injuries and underwent brain surgery.

A Palestinian Authority rock-throwing terrorist was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences and another 58-year sentence for the murders of an Israeli man and his infant son ear Kiryat Arba two years ago.

Waal al-Araja, whose wages as a PA security officer are partly paid for by American and European Union aid, was sentenced Tuesday by the Ofer Military Court for the killing of dual Israeli-American citizen Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan in September 2011.

Palmer’s car overturned after a rock crashed through the windshield. Police originally tried to sweep the attack under a diplomatic rug and determined that the crash on Route 60 near Kiryat Arba an accident, but the publication of photographic evidence of a bloodstained rock on the car forced police to investigate a second time, when they agreed that the Palmers were victims of a terrorist attack.

Al-Araja admitted during the trial that he threw the rocks, but said he did not intend to kill anyone. The judges said in their verdict earlier this month that Al-Araja understood the harm that throwing rocks could cause and that he intended to harm his victims.

Richard Falk, U.N. Human Rights Council official and the Obama administration’s unofficial pain in the neck, has written that the Boston Marathon terrorist bombings were a cheap price that the United States paid for trying to dominate the world. He also said the government’s supposed “Israel First” policy is also to blame.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did not condemn or even hint criticism of Falk’s remarks, explaining through a spokesman that he is “not responsible” for Falk’s “independent views.”

Bitter criticism was fast and furious from other quarters, especially from Jewish groups, but Falk, who has described himself as a Jewish American, never has been bantered by condemnation.

This time around, after years of spitting on Israel, calling it Apartheid and often comparing it with Nazis, Falk castigated the United States and related to the casualties in Boston with a chilling and methodical reasoning of “proportionality” that is shocking coming from anyone, especially a “human rights” activist.

Writing in the Foreign Policy Journal, Falk stated, “The scale and drama of the Boston attack, while great, was not nearly as large or as symbolically resonant as the destruction of the World Trade Center and the shattering of the Pentagon. Also, although each life is sacred, … the Marathon incident has so far produced three deaths as compared to three thousand, that is, 1/1000th of 9/11.”

Of course, 9/11 may actually have been an inside job in Falk’s mind, or whatever makes him tick.

He wrote in 2004 that  the Bush administration may have been complicit in the Al Qaeda- terrorist attacks.

He implied that the U.S. government was involved, writing, “It is possibly true that especially the neoconservatives thought there was a situation in the country and in the world where something had to happen to wake up the American people. Whether they are innocent about the contention that they made that something happen or not, I don’t think we can answer definitively at this point.”

Falk dumbfounded just about anyone who is not anti-American by explaining that the Marathon bombings were to be expected because “the American global domination project is bound to generate all kinds of resistance in the post-colonial world.”

He then went off the deep end altogether, explicitly stating that the United States is darned lucky the attack was not worse, because that is what America deserves.

“In some respects, the United States has been fortunate not to experience worse blowbacks, and these may yet happen, especially if there is no disposition to rethink US relations to others in the world, starting with the Middle East,: he wrote.

Falk almost never can complain about the state of the world without blaming Israel, and this time was no exception.  ”The war drums are beating at this moment in relation to both North Korea and Iran, and as long as Tel Aviv has the compliant ear of the American political establishment, those who wish for peace and justice in the world should not rest easy,” according to him.

“Now at the start of his second presidential term, it seems that Obama has given up altogether, succumbing to the Beltway ethos of Israel First,” he added.

Not surprisingly, Jewish groups demanded that the Council remove Falk from his position, a request that the U.S. government has previously made to no avail.

His “latest string of inflammatory remarks – whether it be on the Internet or in one of his ‘reports’ to the council – has no place in the United Nations and his continued presence at the UNHRC further undermines the credibility of the system,” said B’nai Brith International.

The American Jewish Committee also denounced Falk.

“Here he goes again,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “Given his public record, the question is why Richard Falk still occupies a UN position. Is there no shame?

“Falk’s unhinged diatribes against the U.S. and Israel are well-known….

“His malicious propaganda regarding the U.S. and Israel — and his glaring inability to see the stark truth about extremist violence and terrorism — has no place in any international body that takes itself and its mission seriously.”

Falk has a weird history of seeing terrorists and Muslim radicals through the lenses of “Human Rights.”

Last week was an intense time to be in the U.S. and certainly in Boston. Fresh from Israel, I was ready to talk about the story of the Jewish State, but it seemed God had other plans for me: to live a story in Boston.

So, Friday morning I was walking from the Young Israel of Brookline to the corner Kosher bakery, called Kupels, where I had breakfast every day while in Boston. I must admit I was a bit unplugged from the steady stream of breaking news tidbits and was walking around innocently, when I noticed that there were unusually few cars on the road and that stores seemed to all be closed.

I asked a young lady who was smoking nervously what was going on. “Didn’t you hear?” she said, and proceeded to fill me on everything that had happened overnight: the murder of a police officer, the shootout, the killing of the first suspect and the subsequent manhunt underway for the younger brother. Two things struck me about her tale, the first was the reality of what was happening around me and the strange providence that brought me from “dangerous” eastern Jerusalem to usually-calm Boston to be a witness to this tumultuous and historic time – and hopefully allow me to offer support as well.

The second thing that struck me was the willingness of random Bostonians to give over the whole tale; a kind, verbal kindness that seemed to come naturally to this city of universities, history and intellect.

I returned to the quaint Victorian motel on Longwood Avenue which I was staying at for the week. I began the process of checking out as originally planned but now I couldn’t leave. The city of Boston was on lockdown-manhunt mode and my speaking event had been cancelled. I had nowhere to go and the police did not want anyone going anywhere anyway. So my fellow guests and I congregated in the public kitchen, gathering in front of the television to watch the saga that was unfolding just outside.

To my right was a gentleman – let’s call him Joe. A tough old American, with a penchant for mildly anti-Semitic jokes. Another man came in from outside, bringing Old Joe a ham sandwich. Joe turned to me and said: “Hey Rabbi, you want some of this sandwich, I’ll bless it for you!” and he proceeded to cross the ham. We all laughed. Then Joe asked the other man where he got the food from. The other man, let’s call him Mike, said: “everything is closed except the Jewish deli” (the Kosher-style one where he got the pork). So Joe says: “they’ll do anything for a buck.” But Mike retorted “Na, only the Jews have guts!” Joe nodded.

No one in Boston gave me dirty looks. Nobody implied I was the source of all evil, somehow nefariously involved in the terrorism that had just struck. My Jewish genes expect to be blamed when things go wrong for the gentiles, but the average American – certainly the Bostonians that I met – looked right past my decidedly ethnic Middle Eastern appearance.

On Friday night, I had finished dinner with wonderful Jewish students at the Chabad of Boston University, when I heard merriment and revelry outside. Armed with this new understanding of this city’s willingness to talk, I ran outside and asked the first person – a happy dogwalker – to give me the lowdown. Of course, he immediately obliged, giving me the good news that police had located and captured the second terrorist. Relief was in the air for a city which had held its breath for a week.

On Shabbat day, I walked from B.U. to the Chabad of Harvard (and MIT) for prayer, great lunch, and to give a talk. That day was the 25th day of Omer (the 49-day count between the second day of Passover and the holiday of Shavuot) and the Sefira (Kabbalistic emanation which corresponds to each day of the count) was Netzach SheB’Netzach. In my talk I explained that Netzach means two things: eternity and victory, and that these represented two kinds of Jewish triumph. Eternity means that we outlast our enemies and that no matter what they do to us and how many of us they kill, we come back. We outlast the horrors inflicted upon us by Romans and the Nazis and everyone in between. But victory is different; victory is not only outlasting the evil, it is actually beating it. Our nation suffered through the long exile, and we outlasted our tormentors. But now, with the advent of the Jewish State, we are tasked with pursuing victory and helping the world be rid of those who hate peace.

Gaza terrorists attacked the western Negev with two rockets or mortar shells around 11 p.m. (4 p.m. EDT) Thursday, causing no injuries or damage.

The Color Red early warning siren of 15-20 seconds was not activated.

The latest violation of the Pillar of Defense ceasefire last November followed by 24 hours missile attacks on Eilat, which were probably lunched from the Sinai, officially under Egyptian rule but infested by Hamas and other terrorist gangs.

Terrorist in Hamas-controlled Gaza have attacked southern Israel with rockets or land mines at least three times the past month, and as usual, the government has said it won’t tolerate the challenge to Israel’s sovereignty. And, as usual, the IDF has responded “proportionately,” meaning hitting a couple of weapon factories and terrorist tunnels that are known to exist but are strafed only as an after-the-fact retaliation.

“We will not tolerate such incidents and will retaliate,” said Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, echoing statements made by his predecessor Ehud Barak.

Less than two weeks ago, Gaza terrorists detonated a bomb designed to blow up an army vehicle patrolling on the Gaza security road. No one was injured, but the vehicle sustained light damage.

Hamas has denied it arrested Salafist terrorists for rocket attacks on Israel two consecutive days earlier this month.

No matter who is in charge, the expected resumption of rocket attacks is a fact and marks yet another round of escalation of terror that follows every ceasefire, either by a few hours, days or weeks.

The government and the IDF repeatedly have gone along with Hamas’ game, agreeing to a ceasefire while openly stating that it won’t last.

Hamas is sitting on a huge stockpile of weapons, many of them far more advanced than mortar shells or rockets. Given its raison d’être of destroying Israel, every military officer knows full well that it is only a matter of time before Hamas uses the weapons against Israel.

After the Operation Cast Lead and Pillar of Defense counterterrorist operations four years ago and six months ago respectively, the IDF is ready for the next encounter, sooner or later.

“I was shocked to receive the news of the heinous terror attack near the finish line of the Boston marathon in which innocent civilians lost their lives,” President Shimon Peres wrote President Barack Obama.

Addressing him as “Mr. President, Dear Friend,” President Peres continued, “In my name and on behalf of the people of Israel, I want to extend my sincere condolences to the families of the victims and my good wishes for a full and speedy recovery to the wounded.

“This murderous act perpetrated against innocent people and children underscores yet again the indiscriminate inhumanity of these attacks that cause so much suffering.

“Our prayers are with you, and out hearts go out to the people of the city of Boston and of the United States at large in this time of mourning.”