Ziegler is looked up to as a bastion of morality, but let’s take a look at his record and political positioning (much of this is sourced from Wikipedia and cross-checked through other publications):
Ziegler defended the principle of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe‘s land reforms in 2002, saying that Mugabe had “history and morality on his side”.
Ziegler’s critics have accused him of working as an adviser to Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in the drafting of Ethiopia’s 1986 constitution, which established the country as a one-party state.
Ziegler described the world as an “immense extermination camp”, wherein 40,000 people died of hunger every day. He blamed this on an economic system that allowed the rich to become richer, and the poor to become poorer
Ziegler has praised Cuba, stating in November 2007 that it is a world model for how it provides its people with food and praised it for cooperating with the United Nations and agreeing to allow him to report on the country’s respect for the “right to food.
According to The Weekly Standard, Ziegler believes that the United States is an ‘imperialist dictatorship’ that is guilty, among other atrocities, of ‘genocide’ against the people of Cuba by means of its trade embargo.”
Ziegler criticized Israel’s conduct in the 2006 Lebanon War, stating that the International Criminal Court should investigate whether Israel is guilty of war crimes for a bombing campaign in Lebanon that blocked access to food and water. Specifically, Ziegler stated that “The government of Israel should be held responsible under international law for the violations of the right to food of the Lebanese civilian population.”
Itzhak Levanon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN responded that “In all of his reports, Mr. Ziegler always transgresses the limits of his mandate. The latest report – which touches upon several external issues – is no exception.” Israel also noted that Ziegler’s report focused only on the impact of Israeli bombing in Lebanon and did not cover the effects of Hezbollah rocket fire on northern Israel.”
Ziegler, according to a pro-Palestinian website, stated on television that “the Israeli occupation is a colonial regime and an illegal military occupation from the UN’s point of view, it continues to annex more Palestinian lands; and thus the Israeli occupation is the worst in the history of colonialism.
Jean Ziegler, born April 19, 1934 as Hans Ziegler, is a former professor of sociology at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne, Paris.