'Human Rights Watch' plays politics
You may have thought that 'Human Rights Watch,' the organization that brought us the arms expert with the fetish for collecting Nazi war memorabilia, was a human rights organization. But you were wrong. 'Human Rights Watch' has now gone into the business of telling the United States how to spend its tax money, specifically when it comes to Israel. They've come a long way - the wrong way - since the Helsinki Watch days, haven't they? The United States should penalise Israel by withholding from its massive annual aid a sum equal to the amount Israel gives in subsidies to West Bank settlements, Human Rights Watch said Sunday.Isn't the 'Palestinian Authority' supposed to provide those services to the 'Palestinian' villages? Wasn't that the whole point of making a 'Palestinian Authority' - so that they would not be dependent on Israel for services? Is it Israel's fault that the 'Palestinian Authority' has chosen to spend the billions of dollars in Western aid that have been thrown at it in the last seventeen years on weapons and Swiss bank accounts?
In a 166-page report, the group called on the international community to penalise Israel for "discrimination" in the West Bank, comparing the services enjoyed by settlers with those of neighboring Palestinian villages.
"Palestinians face systematic discrimination merely because of their race, ethnicity, and national origin, depriving them of electricity, water, schools, and access to roads, while nearby Jewish settlers enjoy all of these state-provided benefits," HRW official Carroll Bogert said.
"While Israeli settlements flourish, Palestinians under Israeli control live in a time warp -- not just separate, not just unequal, but sometimes even pushed off their lands and out of their homes."
The group called on the international community to avoid complicity in Israeli breaches of international law, including by cutting assistance to Israel, which is a strong US ally.
And isn't 'Human Rights Watch' supposed to be a human rights organization and not an advocate for political positions?
"Similarly, based on numerous reports that US tax-exempt organisations provide substantial contributions to support settlements, the report urges the US to verify that such tax-exemptions are consistent with US obligations to ensure respect for international law," it added.Maybe they want a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee too?
If any other administration were in power, 'Human Rights Watch' would be told to mind its own business....
Labels: Human Rights Watch, Palestinian Authority corruption
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:26 AM
1 Comments:
Carl - that's how perverted HRW has become - and its founder Robert Bernstein gave an extensive lecture about it. What HRW does today has nothing to do with human rights - unless covering up for, excusing and ignoring the behavior of repressive and abusive regimes is human rights activism. And compared to its neighbors, Israel is an enlightened and free society. Where in the world does HRW get off threatening Israel?
They no longer make human rights activists like they used to! That's the real scandal behind HRW's political posturing cum human rights pretense today since as far as any fair-minded and decent person can witness, the work of human rights in societies where its sorely missing goes completely unaddressed by them.
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