Amnesty International’s report on the conflict in Gaza is fundamentally biased against Israel (“Report Accuses Israel and Hamas of War Crimes in Gaza,” news article, July 3). Nothing illustrates this more starkly than when the report deals with the issue of Gaza civilians caught up in the conflict.
When assessing Israeli efforts to warn civilians of an impending attack, whether by telephone or by leaflet, the report says that all such warnings did was create panic because the civilians had nowhere to flee.
On the other hand, when the report looked at Hamas’s placing military infrastructure in the heart of civilian areas, it minimized the effect by arguing that Hamas did not force people to stay in their homes so civilians could flee attacks.
In other words, Amnesty adjusted its version of the facts to suit its a priori assumptions that Israel was the main party responsible for civilian deaths.
In fact, in a complicated situation, Israel did all it could to avoid civilian casualties. The main violator of human rights was Hamas; its eight-year rocketing of Israeli civilians and its deliberate placing of its military in civilian buildings, homes, schools, hospitals and mosques were major violations of international law. One would barely know this from the Amnesty “investigation.”
Kenneth Jacobson
Deputy National Director
Anti-Defamation League
Thursday, July 09, 2009
When Do We Get Amnestied From Amnesty International?
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3 comments:
Amnesty is funded by its own members only. The organization refuses funding from political parties, religious groups, governments; as far as I know they also refuse funding when this is granted under any condition (eg. "I will economically assist you in your work on that specific case...").
...sorry. I wrote "by its own members only", but my intention was "by its own members and supporters only". While posting I dropped two words. Excuse me again.
From their site:
"Amnesty International is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. It does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it necessarily support the views of the victims whose rights it seeks to protect. To ensure its independence, it does not seek or accept money from governments or political parties for its work in documenting and campaigning against human rights abuses. Its funding depends on the contributions of its worldwide membership and fundraising activities."
I checked the audited financial report but there is no clear source for the monies except "members"
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