Israel Matzav

Sarah Leah Whitson on the 'Arab Spring'

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

David Bernstein provides us with 'Human Rights Watch' Middle East and North Africa director Sarah Leah Whitson's completely bizarre but predictable take on the 'Arab spring.'

It’s fascinating to listen again to this talk by HRW Middle East and North Africa director Sarah Leah Whitson (starting at 16:53) from the Summer of 2009. The topic was “Human Rights in the Middle East.” Syria and Libya get barely a mention. Yemen isn’t mentioned at all. Israel gets by far the most negative attention, followed by Egypt and Jordan–apparently singled out because they are U.S. allies and have peaceful relations with Israel. The Palestinian Authority comes in for some criticism for “not representing all the Palestinians,” i.e., not being anti-Israel enough. While Israel is accused of engaging in “apartheid” and routinely violating international humanitarian law, such that the U.S. should rethink its support of its government, Hamas is referred to as the “elected government” in Gaza, which the U.S. shouldn’t try to undermine.

Read it all - yes, it gets even worse.

Labels: Arab spring, Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:57 PM