Friday, August 28, 2009

Amnesty International's Gaza War

Just about two months ago, Amnesty International issued its own proforma condemnation of Israel, in the form of a predictably biased and unreservedly pro-Palestinian report on Operation Cast Lead.

If you expected Amnesty International to condemn indiscriminate rockets at the civilians of Sderot, you would have been disappointed. If you expected a balanced and open-minded view followed by incontrovertible conclusions backed up by solid evidence and reason, you were disappointed.

If you expected a dense block of bafflegab critical of Israel and supportive of the revolutionary types so beloved of Europeans and citizens of the People's Republic of Berkeley, your guess was spot on, and you win the grand prize!


Quote:
"On 2 July Amnesty International published the most comprehensive report to date, titled Israel/Gaza - Operation 'Cast Lead': 22 Days of Death and Destruction. It suffers from a number of flaws, like neglecting the context of the war and the nature of the Hamas regime in Gaza, an uncritical approach to Palestinian witnesses and sources, selective use of Israeli sources and disregard for sources which contradict the opinions of the investigators, and a disputable view of ambiguous international laws and conventions. "
End quote:


Source: http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000707.html


Quote:
"Amnesty's definition of a civilian is rather broad. For instance, police officers are part of the Hamas control apparatus in the Gaza Strip and its military infrastructure, and many were also involved in armed groups like the Al Qassam Brigades. The entire armed branch of Hamas, including the diverse security and guerrilla forces, should be considered a legitimate target in a war, as are its political control apparatus, propaganda institutions and infrastructure.As a matter of fact Hamas censured the media for reporting about the death of Hamas fighters, so the number of reported deaths from Hamas' side may be lower than the real number of their casualties."
End quote.


Commissars, interrogation officers, torturers, goons, strong-arm Johnnies, religious extortionists, bomb makers, and every other badly dressed erratically armed functionary of the Islamic Revolution is perforce a civilian - only people wearing acknowledged military uniforms and pointing something heavy caliber at another person wearing a uniform are 'non-civilians'.
I mention this because it is symptomatic of the thought processes of the Europeans and citizens of the People's Republic of Berkeley when they condemn Israel.


And just so you know, wearing a kippah is an act of naked aggression, and marks the kippah-wearer as a member of the Zionist-Imperialist Aggressor Entity - a legitimate target, in other words. As so often blandly stated by Europeans and citizens of the People's Republic of Berkeley.
[And, just as in Ramallah, Cairo, and Gaza City, wearing a kippah in Europe and the PRofB may get you killed. Or at least revolutionarily roughed up.]


Quote:
"It is unfortunate that an organization as renowned as Amnesty International, which engages in defending human rights worldwide, publishes a report as biased and unfair as the one discussed here. "
End quote


Unfortunate, yes, but surprising, no. It was entirely predictable that they should do so, and it is likewise certain that whenever the cause requires it, they will publish more. What is lamentable is that an organization which, on paper at least, has such a laudable purpose, has become the reserve of the usual crowd of armchair - coffee shop - lectern revolutionaries.


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All quotes taken from : http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/
From this article: Gaza War: Reviewing Amnesty International's Report on Operation Cast Lead
Authors of that article, Ratna Pelle and Wouter Brassé, can also be read here: http://www.israel-palestina.info/gaza_war_amnesty.html, or here: http://www.israel-palestina.info/english_section.html , where there is also an excellent and informative selection of backgrounders on the Arab/Israel conflict.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It stems from a rather racist attitude, left over from the British colonial mentality. Our naive "leftist" or "progressive" appologists for the Palestinians commonly express themselves in a manner that reeks of the White Man's Burden, with such condescendingly racist phrases as "the Arab street will explode in rage", as if Palestinans were somehow lesser beings without conscious control over their baser emotions and behavior. It is similarly condescendingly racist to assert that the Palestinans should be relieved of the predictable consequeces of their actions and choices, as if they were children. The inability to use the same standards for Palestinian behavior as for all other peoples needs to be adressed within this context. Simply, to beleive that Palestinians hae only rights and Jews have only obligations, is equally as racist in both diretions.

Anonymous said...

Say - you wouldn't be one of those zioniosts who thinks grossly disproportionate killing of civilians is okay when it's Arabs, now would you? something about god giving you the deed to the land - which you know because it's in a book someone once wrote? I see. Well, can't argue with that sort of logic! Jews good, Arabs bad, then! Stupid secular humanists!

Secular Humanist said...

Say - you wouldn't be one of those zioniosts who thinks grossly disproportionate killing of civilians is okay when it's Arabs, now would you? something about god giving you the deed to the land - which you know because it's in a book someone once wrote? I see. Well, can't argue with that sort of logic! Jews good, Arabs bad, then! Stupid secular humanists!

Perhaps you are unaware that Israel is a secular state? And that at the time of partition, Jews made up a majority both of residents and owners in the area that they were assigned? And that then the Arab nations united to drive the Jews into the ocean?

The attempt to drive Jews into the ocean was in itself pretty disproportionate. Subsequently robbing the Jews in the Arab world and driving them out, also disproportionate. Every subsequent attempt to destroy Israel and the Jews, yes, also disproportionate.

How racist to never accuse Arabs of disproportion! Do you feel that it doesn't count because they're just Arabs?

I doubt that you're a secular humanist - you're too ignorant and stupid. You must be from Berkeley.