Media Impact: B'Tselem's False Gaza War Allegations
See here for NGO Monitor’s press release, “B’Tselem Adds to the Chorus of False Gaza War Allegations,” January 27, 2015
See here for additional information on B’Tselem.
Israeli Group Says Military Attacks on Palestinian Homes Appeared to Violate Law, Isabel Kershner, The New York Times, January 27, 2015
Israeli critics immediately denounced the B’Tselem report as they did the previous two, underlining longstanding and deep divides over the activities of such groups in Israel. NGO Monitor, an Israeli watchdog group widely considered to be right-leaning, said the reports presented a “distorted political narrative of Israeli guilt and Palestinian victimhood.” NGO Monitor added that B’Tselem was “contributing to the campaign” surrounding a commission of inquiry by the United Nations Human Rights Council, as well as the International Criminal Court investigation.
Israel Violated Rules of War in Strikes on Gaza Homes: Israeli Rights Group, AP/ The Economic Times, January 28, 2015
Another Israeli group, NGO Monitor, said the count was skewed by underreporting deaths of combatants.
B’Tselem Accuses IDF of Violating Laws of War in Gaza, Mitch Ginsburg, The Times of Israel, January 28, 2015
The Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, a watchdog that reports on the activities of left-wing groups, claimed that B’Tselem’s report was marked by “major omissions and distortions,” while failing to “present definitive evidence that would justify the allegations.”
“Once again, and regardless of the circumstances and available evidence, B’Tselem has contorted the facts in order to pronounce Israel guilty,” said Anne Herzberg, NGO Monitor’s legal adviser, in a statement to the press. “Contrary to such claims, Hamas is morally and legally responsible for civilian deaths in Gaza: Hamas systematically conducts military operations from within civilian areas and stores its rockets in schools, mosques, and private homes.
“B’Tselem’s claims regarding international law are marked by major omissions and distortions. It notably fails to state that under the laws of war, the presence of civilians does not render military objectives immune from attack,” she said.
B’Tselem: PM Culpable for Gaza War Palestinian Civilian Deaths; NGO Monitor Demurs, Yonah Jeremy Bob, The Jerusalem Post, January 28, 2015
NGO Monitor disputed both the report’s factual and interpretive allegations.
The report ignored IDF statements and a report by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center regarding properly identifying who was a civilian and who a fighter, NGO Monitor said.
It complimented B’Tselem on the “honest admission” that it “has no way of knowing” where the IDF attacked because of fighters being present or for another reason, such as concealed weapons, but then objected to B’Tselem’s interpreting the IDF’s actions as unlawful without having that information.
NGO Monitor said that B’Tselem was inventing new, aspirational, rules of law that are not obligatory, that the IDF’s warnings are “more extensive than that of any other army” and questioned what practical suggestions B’Tselem had for better fighting Hamas.