Don't Believe Everything You Read

This week Amnesty International (AI) released the 2016-2017 reporton the State of the World's Human Rights- a 409 page report documenthighlighting human rights issues and abuses around the world. A couple of itemswere immediately apparent:

1. Four pages of this report are devoted tohuman rights abuses in Israel, including a short segment on the abuse of womenand girls within the Palestinian community. This means more than 400 pages aredevoted to other human rights abuses in other countries around the world.Imagine my surprise when I learned - from Virgin's Richard Branson - a memberof Amnesty International's Global Council, no less, that "Thetens of thousands of people that make up the Rohingya population in Myanmar nowrepresent the largest 'stateless' group in the world," or that theshocking term 'Slavery' was listed as a separate heading in the section onMauritania.

 This report highlights the abuse suffered by people at the handsof governments around the world. And yet, if UN resolutions, reports andcommittees are used as a yardstick, it is only Israel which merits incessantcastigation - often by the very government officials complicit in horrificabuse in their own countries. Human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali'sobservation that antisemitism is a tool of oppression in the Arab world seemsparticularly apt - and perhaps should be broadened to include the majority ofmember nations within the UN.

2. The Amnesty section on Israelis deeply flawed for its distortion of facts, and for neglecting to provide anyhistoric or contemporary context; readers unfamiliar with the brutal terrorattacks and threats faced by Israelis every day could be forgiven for thinkingIsrael is the monstrous country Amnesty makes it out to be. While highlightingthe difficulties faced by Palestinians, the report ignores completely thegenocidal threats from Hamas, the celebration of terrorism by the PalestinianAuthority, the incitement to terror by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Iranand Hezbollah, and the rabid antisemitism in Palestinian society and throughoutmuch of the Arab world. Israel's struggles in the face of overwhelming hate andattempts to destroy the country and her people are not addressed. The humanrights abuses facing Israelis do not merit a separate section.

According to thecharity NGO Monitor, AI is in violation of its policy of"impartiality," as it employs two anti-Israel activists withwell-documented histories of radical activism in the context of theArab-Israeli conflict. Its organizational bias is clear: At an Amnestyconference in the United Kingdom in 2015 the only resolution  rejectedwas a motion that called for the organization to address rising antisemitism inthe UK. As documented by NGO Monitor, AI mirrors the UN in its obsessionwith Israel, tolerance for threats and antisemitism, and distortion of facts.This bias calls into question the validity of the entire 400+ page report.

As it appropriates the phrase 'Never Again' in a brief videoadvancing its cause, while at the same time ignoring the origin andaspirational intent of those two powerful words, I consider AmnestyInternational complicit in the growing anti-Jewish hatred infecting the worldtoday. Indeed, I believe there is a direct cause and effect between Amnesty'sbiased reporting, and a McGill University student leader believing he wasmorally justified in advocatingviolence against '˜Zionists', and his peers' refusal to remove him fromoffice for doing so.

Tragically, Amnesty International seems to have been infected by a dangerousstrain of antisemitism which mocks its intention for global citizens to"stand up together and put a stop to the politics of demonization which iscreating a divided and dangerous world." 

With your assistance, Friendsof Simon Wiesenthal Center is working to change this narrative througheducational programming focused on tolerance and respect for diversity. Justyesterday at FSWC's Law Enforcement Workshop I had a chance to educate officersfrom the Cobourg, Halton, Niagara and Rama police services about Israel, and toprovide them with content from Freedom House demonstrating Israel is theonly nation identified as free and democratic in the Middle East. 

At the end of the day, I advise a healthy dose of skepticism:when it comes to reporting on Israel, don't believe everything you read.