Israel Under Fire – NGO Warfare: From Human Rights Watch to Campus Mobs
Full Article
[Excerpts]
Many of the slogans chanted by antisemitic mobs on university campuses and in major cities following the October 7, 2023, atrocities – “genocide… starvation… apartheid… war crimes… from River to the Sea…” – are propelled by an extensive network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that carry the flags of human rights and international law. Similarly, the statements and reports of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the pronouncements of the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan, including the decision to seek arrest warrants for at least two Israeli leaders – Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Galant on the claim of “starvation” – directly reflect the impact of these NGOs.
Immediately following the October 7 attacks, these NGOs launched concerted major political campaigns that downplayed or whitewashed Hamas and the other perpetrators and targeted Israel. Interviewed as “experts” on major media platforms and using social media posts, NGO officials like Omar Shakir (Human Rights Watch) declared: “Depriving an occupied population of food & electricity is collective punishment—a war crime—as is using starvation as a weapon of war.”
In parallel, Amnesty International called on the ICC Prosecutor to “urgently expedite its ongoing investigation in the situation of Palestine, examining alleged crimes by all parties, and including the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians.” The Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) published and marketed a call for the investigation of “Israel’s unfolding crime of genocide and other crimes in Gaza and against the Palestinian People,” as well as “Israel’s use of starvation as a tool of warfare… “forced displacement… and systematic domination and oppression over the Palestinian people for over 75 years.”
The litany of demonization and modern blood libels, accompanied by expressions of support for Hamas and other terror organizations, is systematically repeated and amplified by a broad network consisting of hundreds of localized NGOs. These include groups organizing and supporting the pro-Palestinian activists based on university campuses and also conducting mob violence against Jews and other targets in major cities.
