Israel has denied entry to a United Nations official after he compared Israeli policies towards the Palestinians to those of the Nazis against the Jews.

Richard Falk, assigned to take up his role in May monitoring Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians, refused to retract the comparisons he made last summer.

“If this kind of situation had existed, for instance, over the manner in which China was dealing with Tibet or the Sudanese government was dealing with Darfur, I think there would be no reluctance to make that comparison,” he told the BBC.

Israeli diplomats intend to ask whether Mr Falk’s mandate could be extended to include Palestinian human rights abuses against Israelis.