Press Release:
Russell Tribunal Kangaroo Court Opens in New York
JERUSALEM – The so-called Russell Tribunal on Palestine, which is another form of the global BDS campaign used in the political warfare targeting Israel, is appearing in New York on October 6 and 7. The previous RToP round, with many of the same participants, took place in November 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa, where it was largely ignored.
As most observers and journalists recognized, the RToP is a complete mockery of due process, repeating the slander that Israel “subjects the Palestinian people to an institutionalized regime of domination amounting to apartheid as defined under international law.” As Judge Richard Goldstone wrote in the New York Times, “In Israel, there is no apartheid.” Instead of promoting human rights, peace, and reconciliation in the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict, this legal façade is exploited for a racist attack on the Jewish nation and Israel, says NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based research institution.
“In Cape Town, the organizers of the RToP failed to achieve any of their objectives; in every media framework, they were forced to defend and explain this farcical kangaroo court – in New York, we expect the same results,” says Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. “The organizers and participants are widely seen to be promoting hatred, abusing the instruments of justice to support racist attacks against Israel, ignoring Palestinian violence and exploiting the victims of the real apartheid regime. The participants should be condemned for their involvement in this immoral activity, which is the antithesis of promoting understanding, peace, and reconciliation between the Jewish and Arab peoples.”
Many of the participants are officials of NGOs that are funded by the European Union and many European governments, including Palestinian Committee for Human Rights (PCHR), Badil, and Al Haq. Steinberg added, “The EU and individual European governments have a moral obligation to immediately stop their funding to these NGOs, as it clearly contradicts EU and European policy.”
“The real tragedy of the RToP is the platform it provides to promote hatred and racism under the façade of justice,” adds Steinberg. “By demonizing Israel and using the RToP to promote boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS), a negotiated two-state solution is more difficult to achieve. The EU, other funders, and NGOs that promoted and participated in this are contributing to the demise of human rights principles.
For more details see the Russell Tribunal website.