Letter to Amnesty International from Prof. Eytan Gilboa of Bar Ilan University: Amnesty Report on Israel in Lebanon
To Amnesty International
Israel Branch
Dear Sir,
There is ample evidence to suggest that Amnesty International and the branch in Israel, which means you, are systematically biased toward Israel (see the many excellent reports issued by NGO Monitor. Most of your reports on the conflicts Israel has been recently involved in are inaccurate, distorted and misleading. The last outrageous example is the report of your alleged Israeli war crimes in the recent Hezbollah initiated war in Lebanon. You have been very quick to publish the report on Israel, and you are saying that you will publish a report on Hezbollah at a future date. The reason you have given for the delay in the publication of the report on Hezbollah is ridicules — your intention to examine evidence about Hezbollah using civilian areas and facilities to launch missiles against Israel. Your motivation is obvious; you want to find a few houses destroyed by Israel, which Hezbollah didn’t use as military bases, so that you can again smear and demonize Israel. In the meantime, all the media in the world will cite the report on Israel, and Israel will be seen as the only party committing war crimes in the region. From my own research on media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which has been very biased and hostile toward Israel, the report on Hezbollah, which I predict will give them much benefit of doubt, will not receive a fraction of the attention; the report on Israel is already receiving. In the meantime, you completely ignore the death and destruction in Israel and the ample filmed evidence that already exits on Hezbollah’s deliberately using civilian areas to launch missiles into Israeli town and cities. You present report claims that Israel destroyed civilian infrastructure, such as roads and ports, but as usual, you have conveniently ignored the evidence about transfer of missiles and weapons to Hezbollah from Syria. In my class, your present report wouldn’t have received even a D grade. We will see how long it will take you to publish the report on Hezbollah, what the exact allegations will be and how much attention it will get in the world. This was one war, and you should have published one report that should have included both Israel and Hezbollah. You published the report only on Israel on purpose, because you have a political agenda against Israel. Your outrageous action encourages organizations and states guilty of systematic violations of human rights in the Middle East. Your actions don’t contribute to the advancement of human rights in the region, but exactly to the opposite results. You reports are contributing to the rise of Anti-Semitism in the world, because many will cite you again and again to show that Israel is the number one violator of human rights in the world. You can certainly be proud of being together in the same company with the ridiculous UN Human Rights Council which has recently resolved to examine only the "war crimes of Israel" and refusing to investigate Hezbollah. The academic and professional community in Israel and abroad should finally stand up; expose your unacceptable and outrageous behavior, your ignorance and misleading reports. I will make any possible effort with colleagues to approach your donors and ask them to stop contributions to your highly unprofessional and politically biased organization.
Sincerely,
Professor Eytan Gilboa, PhD
Department of Political Studies & Communications Program
Sr. Research Associate, BESA Center for Strategic Studies
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat- Gan 52900
ISRAEL