Human Rights Watch’s refusal to unequivocally condemn terror attacks on Israeli civilians without also condemning Israel again reveals an organization lacking credibility and moral integrity. Its press releases and social media activity reveal a pattern of patronizingly minimizing Palestinian crimes, while artificially inflating the alleged violations committed by the Israeli government and Israeli citizens in response.

HRW was silent for weeks, as the number of victims of Palestinian terror attacks in Jerusalem and elsewhere increased. Only following the brutal synagogue massacre in Har Nof (November 18, 2014), did HRW finally make a public statement. And when it did, HRW distorted basic facts in order to downplay the Palestinian assault and maximize Israel’s supposed guilt. In its statement, HRW accuses Israel of violating the law by summarily executing terrorists. For example, HRW claims, “Israeli forces later killed several suspected attackers,” without noting that with one exception, the terrorists – who were perpetrators, not “suspects” – were killed, while carrying out their attacks (not “later”).

Further reflecting the organization’s bias, on her Twitter account, Sarah Leah Whitson, the head of HRW’s Middle East division, weakly condemned the synagogue murders as “unlawful.” However, in responding to Israel’s response to terrorism, namely demolishing homes of the attackers whom she claimed were only “suspected killers”, she labeled Israel “despicable, medieval” and guilty of “war crimes”. Contrary to Whitson’s characterization and as noted above, the perpetrators were killed in the act of axing people to death, and were not merely “suspected” of their crimes.

See Also “NGO Statements, and Silence, on Terror Attacks Since October 22,” Ovember 23, 2014