On December 6, Amnesty International condemned US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel (“USA: Recognition of unified Jerusalem ‘reckless’ and undermines Palestinians’ human rights”). In so doing, Amnesty blatantly misrepresents the content of the announcement in order to allege that it somehow violates international law and Palestinian human rights.

In its statement, Amnesty repeatedly asserts that “the US is recognizing unified Jerusalem as Israel’s capital” (emphasis added), which, according to Amnesty, would amount to “violating its own international legal obligations not to recognize or assist an illegal situation” (i.e. Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem in 1980).

There’s just one problem. Trump’s speech expressly says the opposite.

The text of the remarks reads, “We are not taking a position of any final status issues including the specific boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem or the resolution of contested borders. Those questions are up to the parties involved” (emphasis added). In fact, the term “unified” does not appear in the speech at all. (The word “United” appears six times, as in the United States.)

Reasonable people can disagree as to whether American recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a positive development. Shamelessly misreading the official announcement of that decision, in order to make your point, is an embarrassment to Amnesty International.