Israel Matzav

Nazi fetishist Marc Garlasco resigns from Human Rights Watch

In response to a query by JPost reporter Abe Selig, Human Rights Watch disclosed on Friday that Marc Garlasco resigned from the organization on February 15. Garlasco was the organization's senior military analyst until he was suspended in September after his hobby of collecting Nazi memorabilia was uncovered by bloggers. Garlasco's name remained on Human Rights Watch's website as late as Thursday.

After HRW was queried regarding Garlasco’s status on Thursday evening, the group’s communications director, Emma Daly, responded in an e-mail stating, “Human Rights Watch regretfully accepted Marc Garlasco’s resignation on February 15th [and] he is no longer listed as a staff member on Human Rights Watch’s Web site.”

However, according to the NGO Monitor announcement, which had been sent to the Post on Thursday morning, “As of March 4, 2010, [Garlasco’s] name remains on the list of HRW employees, listed as a ‘senior military analyst.’”

While Garlasco’s name was visible on HRW’s online list of employees on Thursday afternoon, Daly insisted in a phone conversation on Thursday night that his name had been removed from the list. “You’re looking at an old Internet cache,” Daly told the Post.

A subsequent search revealed that Garlasco’s name had in fact been removed, leaving a blank space where it had appeared hours prior.

As for the “pending investigation,” Daly repeated that Garlasco had resigned and said, “We are not commenting on it any further.”

In a press release that was sent to several bloggers, including yours truly, Professor Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor said that Garlasco's resignation should not be the end of the story.

The belated “resignation” of Marc Garlasco, who held the position of senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch, underscores HRW’s lack of credibility and its need to launch an external organizational investigation.

Since Garlasco was revealed to be an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia in September 2009, NGO Monitor had repeatedly called for an independent examination of HRW’s policies and hiring practices.

“Although Garlasco no longer works with HRW, the organization’s reliance on his supposed ‘military expertise’ raises alarming questions about the credibility of its activities, and the Goldstone report, which relied heavily on HRW’s claims,” said Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. “HRW’s problems go far deeper than the Garlasco case.”

Steinberg noted that Garlasco co-authored numerous HRW reports alleging “Israeli war crimes” during the 2009 Gaza war, and if these publications are shown to be based on inaccurate, false, or biased claims, both HRW and Goldstone, who was on HRW’s board, should issue retractions. Additionally, since 2004, Garlasco co-authored many of HRW’s reports condemning Israel, each of which needs to be investigated or withdrawn, Steinberg said.

NGO Monitor urges HRW to mount an independent investigation focusing on the relationship between Garlasco and its Middle East and North Africa division. MENA heads Joe Stork and Sarah Leah Whitson – who were both active in anti-Israel campaigning prior to joining HRW – appear to have worked closely with Garlasco. This relationship, under the leadership of Executive Director Kenneth Roth, may have propelled HRW’s highly disproportionate focus on Israel, as documented by NGO Monitor and by HRW founder Robert Bernstein.

“As James Hoge Jr. prepares to chair HRW’s board, his first priority should be launching an independent investigation of this human rights superpower, particularly of its Middle East and North Africa division,” said Steinberg.

I cannot envision any country in the world other than Israel being treated so totally unfairly by a major international NGO. No, not even the US.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:23 PM