Dear Editor,

‘Human Rights Watch report says Palestinian children beaten, kicked while in Israeli custody’ (12 April) parrots a biased, anti-Israel narrative disguised in the words of human rights and values.

The HRW publication on which ABC’s article is based only briefly mentions the wave of stabbings, stonings, and other Palestinian terror attacks on Israelis civilians that began in October 2015. A significant percentage of the perpetrators have been child soldiers – minors under the age of 18.

In addition to lacking context, HRW also lacks any credible research methodology. Using only three anecdotal incidents, HRW issues sweeping conclusions. And, at the same time, it ignores many changes enacted by the Israeli government in recent years regarding juvenile justice, including the creation of juvenile military courts and raising the age of majority to 18. These measures reflect efforts on Israel’s part to increase child protection, even when minors have committed serious, life threatening crimes.

This close examination of HRW’s report shows it misrepresents reality to advance a specific agenda and has no research methodology. As such, it should not be considered a credible source of information.