Israel Matzav

NGO Monitor rips 'Human Rights Watch's Whitson for racially charged language

NGO Monitor has sharply criticized 'Human Rights Watch's Sarah Leah Whitson for using racially charged language against Israel.

NGO Monitor cited Whitson’s op-ed, “A Matter of Civil Rights,” which appeared last week on the liberal news outlet The Huffington Post website.

It read, in part: “In a week when the US paused to recall the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, President Peres might have considered King’s message – an end to segregation – and why such a system of racial inequality remains in place in the Occupied Palestinian Territories...”

NGO Monitor noted that the words “‘segregate,’ ‘race/racist,’ ‘discrimination’ and ‘equal/unequal’ are repeated 23 times in this short piece.”

Professor Gerald Steinberg, head of NGO Monitor, said “HRW and Whitson cynically use double standards and race-baiting against Jews to attack Israel – while ignoring the universal basis of human rights norms. This abuse of moral standards to promote hatred has grave consequences for the human rights movement that go far beyond the anti-Israel racism in this agenda.”

NGO Monitor added that “Abusing Dr. King’s assassination for this purpose is particularly offensive – erasing both the Jewish community’s leadership in the civil rights struggle, and Dr. King’s support for Israel. In contrast, Whitson takes a racist position denying the right of the Jewish people to sovereign equality.”

The fact that Whitson has any credibility at all left after her Saudi fund-raising junket speaks volumes about just how willing the 'international community' is to believe anything bad about Israel. Unfortunately, I see no signs of positive change. 'Human Rights Watch' is obsessed with 'proving' that the Middle East's only democracy is an 'apartheid state.'

Labels: apartheid state, Human Rights Watch, NGO Monitor, racism, Sarah Leah Whitson

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:08 PM