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[Excerpt:]

"The letter elicited strong criticism from NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based organization that draws attention to what it regards as the nongovernmental organizations’ ‘exploitation’ of human rights values for political agendas. ‘These groups manipulate legal terminology such as ‘disproportionate response’ and ‘collective punishment’ in condemning Israel to the extent that their rhetoric is widely copied by diplomats, journalists and academics,’ Gerald Steinberg, NGO Monitor’s executive director and chair of political studies at Bar-Ilan University, told the Forward. ‘In contrast, the legal issues are far more complex, and many experts argue that Israel has acted absolutely within the framework of international humanitarian law. The situation is nowhere near the black-and-white images these NGOs project.’ Contrary to the NGOs’ claims, Steinberg said, ‘the [Israel Defense Forces] has clearly taken exceptional measures to minimize civilian casualties.’ He also said that ‘missions against key Hamas commanders have been called off at the last moment when civilians came too close.’ Steinberg added: ‘While tragic mistakes do happen, the evidence shows that the IDF is far from indifferent to civilian suffering. As a result, the cynical attacks by NGOs are seen by Israelis as motivated by ideology rather than morality.’"