"Eric Posner in WSJ on future of the international human rights movement"

"The international human rights movement, however, has an atavistic attachment to the "international" for its own sake, because its ideology and politics and class biases lead it to confuse the "international" with the "universal." It therefore leans procedurally toward ineffectual liberal internationalism, whereas the substantive victories of international human rights - in history as well as today - largely lie in the realm of democratic sovereigns enforcing values that are found among their electorates, or at least their governing elites, from the anti-slavery movements to todays anti-human trafficking campaigns. ...the choice between universal human rights values and democracy has long since been made by the human rights movement. It has always had a distinct hostility toward popular democracy. ...But it is also because democracy and democratic sovereignty challenge the hegemony of human rights elites and their writ to determine the content and canon of what Eric aptly calls the "expanding franchise" of "international human rights."

Letter to the editor of Haaretz, HRW and Adalahs Petition to the Supreme Court Not Credible, in response to "High Court to weigh probe on alleged IDF war crimes in Gaza", Yuval Yaoz, 15 April 2007, Haaretz

Adalahs and Human Rights Watchs petition to the Supreme Court charging Israel with war crimes during the 2004 Operation Rainbow is a clear political act. Their claims ignore the complex security situation in which the Israel operates, and they have shown no clear method of determining motivations like "revenge" on a systematic basis.

"Terror plot may have blown family reunification"

'Human rights organizations will have a tougher time now persuadingthe High Court of Justice to overturn a provisional law prohibitingPalestinian men under the age of 35 and women under 25 from living in Israel with their Israeli spouses after the latest suicide bomb plot by Hamas. A car carrying 100 kg. of explosives was driven across the seam line from Kalkilya to Tel Aviv and back again to Kalkilya by a Palestinian married to an Israeli woman. As a result of Israel's family reunification policies, the suspect enjoyed residential status in Israel and therefore carried a blue identity card, allowing him to pass through IDF checks....

"Jewish money and the Arab citizen"

'Thirty percent of the money the NIF distributes is channeled to activities aimed at promoting the Arabs of Israel, to raise them to an equal status. This is a central part of the important objective of "a Jewish and democratic state........"The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel" document, which demands a right of veto over national decisions and cultural autonomy, aroused second thoughts....The NIF gives a lot of money to organizations like Adalah, which played a central role in the provocative document...

"Jewish Museum Berlin Clarify Position Regarding HRW"

"Peace Nows margin of error"

Wildly inaccurate report raises questions about organizations credibility

Letter to the Editor, Cornell Sun

Josh Goldman (Prof: Middle East Controversy Contrived March 12) reports that Norman Finkelstein quoted from Amnesty International, BTselem and Human Rights Watch in supporting his anti-Israel case, .Thishighlights a key problem with the activity of many human rights NGOs active in the Middle East...

"NGOs urge European leaders in Geneva to protest Iranian abuses"

"An international coalition of human rights groups called on nine European government ministers visiting Geneva today to rebuke Iran for its repression of women, dissidents and religious and ethnic minorities.The letter by Womens Federation for World Peace, Hope for Africa, the Open Society Institute and 24 other NGOs from across Europe, North America, Africa and Asia protested Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottakis appearance today at the UN Human Rights Council, and urged German Foreign Minister Steinmeier, Dutch Foreign Minister Verhagen, Swedish Foreign Minister Bildt and six other leaders to speak out during their turn at the Council podium. Mr. Mottaki was responsible for organizing the December conference in Tehran questioning the Holocaust. "

UN committee: Israel should let Palestinians return to their land

"The appearance before the [UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination] of the human rights organizations, which also included B'Tselem (the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) and Ittijah (the Union of Arab Community Based Organizations in Israel), is part of an increasing trend to fight Israeli policies in international forums. Adalah said some of the information provided to the committee came from its international advocacy department assigned to UN committees."

"Dismay Over New U.N. Human Rights Council"

"The United Nations Human Rights Council begins a three-week session in Geneva on Monday amid expressions of frustration from rights advocates at its early performance and alarm over proposals that might weaken it further. So far its been enormously disappointing, and the opponents of human rights enforcement are running circles around the proponents, said Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch. "