Amnesty USA Exploits Passover, Ignores Kidnapped Israelis
Amnesty International USA posted what it termed a “Passover Action for Human Rights” that entirely ignored the central human rights concerns of Israelis and Jews. There was no mention of the Israeli soldiers that were kidnapped by Hamas and Hezbollah during the past year. Amnesty was also silent on the fact that, in violation of all humanitarian norms, their captors have refused to allow Red Cross visits or provided any information on their condition, or whether they are alive. Instead, Amnesty USA’s so-called “Passover action” urged members to campaign on behalf of two opposition figures held in prison by China and Belarus. And the headline cause promoted in this effort focused on Tove Johannsson, a Swedish pro-Palestinian activist in the radical International Solidarity Movement, injured in a scuffle in Hebron in November 2006. (The circumstances of her injury and the role of ISM in provoking the violence are disputed.) Amnesty repeated the claims made by biased political groups such as Electronic Intifada and ISM blaming “Israeli settlers”, and urged members to write letters on her behalf. Ms. Johannsson has fully recovered and returned home, in contrast to the Israeli soldiers that are held captive, and the victims of Palestinian and Hezbollah terror.
Amnesty USA also ignored key security factors in its March 2007 report entitled "Right to family life denied." Despite Amnesty’s claim that it "knows of no case in which a woman within this category [Jordanian women of Palestinian origin who are married to Palestinian men] has been responsible for or involved in any important security incident," no definition is given for "important" and the context that 38 out of 272 suicide attacks conducted in Israel were by Palestinians holding Israeli identity cards, is erased.
In contrast, and in accordance with its mandate to promote universal human rights, Amnesty International published a report entitled "Egypt: Planned anti-terror law could intensify abuses." This report addresses Egypt’s "long and well-publicized record of … serious human rights violations" and the possible effect of them of new legislation to combat terrorism."
See also: "Many rights, some wrong: The world’s biggest human-rights organization stretches its brand" The Economist print edition, March 22, 2007.
"[A]n organization which devotes more pages in its annual report to human-rights abuses in Britain and America than those in Belarus and Saudi Arabia cannot expect to escape doubters’ scrutiny."