International NGOs
International NGOs should work toward the goal of ensuring human rights for all citizens, everywhere. Instead, many disproportionately focus on allegations of Israeli violations and use their power and funding to promote a distorted narrative of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Obsession and Scandals: HRW in 2009
In 2009, Human Rights Watch publications on Israel comprised 28% of its total Mideast output. This is more than Iran, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, and other chronic human rights abusers. HRW issued 34 statements on the Goldstone Report, which out-numbered documents on all the countries in the Middle East, except Israel and Iran. Scandals included a fundraising trip to Saudi Arabia, the revelation that Marc Garlasco is an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia, and founder Robert Bernsteins NY Times op-ed that strongly criticized the organizations role in turn[ing] Israel into a pariah state.
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Analyzing Human Rights Watchs Defensive Response to Robert Bernstein
HRWs founders critical op-ed in the NY Times led to a defensive campaign by HRW officials and supporters. These misleading responses use identical language and format. HRW officials did not address Bernsteins most serious claims: HRWs role in turn[ing] Israel into a pariah state and its loss of critical perspective on Irans support for Hamas and Hezbollah. Analysis demonstrates that, contrary to the NGOs claims, HRW does disproportionately focus on Israel, including 30% of the Middle East divisions reporting in 2009; and its research is flawed and error-filled.
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Human Rights Watch: Selling Goldstone's Indictment
HRW is leading the campaign to promote the widely criticized Goldstone report on the Gaza War, with close to thirty statements to date. Repeatedly equates Israel to Hamas, immorally compare its response to attacks on civilians to the genocide in Sudan, and falsely accuse Israel of willfully killing civilians and deliberate infliction of suffering on civilians. The close links between Goldstone and HRW continue to constitute a clear conflict of interest. HRWs extensive media campaign diverts attention from the criticism and scandals that plague the organization.
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Expert or Ideologues?: HRW's Defense of Marc Garlasco's Nazi Fetish
In the wake of revelations that Marc Garlasco is an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia, HRW has issued several defenses. Contrary to HRWs claims: collecting Nazi Memorabilia is not an innocuous hobby, Garlascos hobby borders on the obsessive and flaunts Nazi symbolism, and he has authored a 430-page tome on Swastika-adorned Nazi-era medals. HRWs attempt to characterize Garlasco as a serious military historian and to delete the obvious moral implications regarding someone so closely involved in serial condemnations of Israel is offensive and intolerable.
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