Amnesty International's Skewered View of the Middle East Empowers Tyrants and Punishes Democracies

July 2, 2009

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S  SKEWERED VIEW OF THE MIDDLE EAST EMPOWERS TYRANTS AND PUNISHES DEMOCRACIES

"Amnesty International's ludicrous one-sided attack on Israel for its action against Hamas' terrorist infrastructure in Gaza last winter once again exposes its skewered  view of the Middle East Conflict--one which empowers tyrants and punishes democracies", senior officials of the Simon Wiesenthal Center charged today. "It is Hamas that used human shields, took over hospitals and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and Amnesty knows it," said Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, (dean and associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center respectively). "It was the silence of NGOs like Amnesty International as Hamas targeted 7,000 missiles and rockets over a nine-year period at Israeli civilian communities that left the Jewish State no other option than to protect its citizens by going after Hamas terrorists last winter. If Amnesty found no evidence that Hamas used human shields, it is either because they didn’t investigate in the first place or that Palestinian civilians in Gaza are cowered into silence by the terrorists ruling the Gaza Strip,” they added.
 
“Apparently, Amnesty International had no problems swallowing Hamas' deceitful narrative,” Rabbis Hier and Cooper said.  “Contrast Amnesty’s one-sided attack on Israel with Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan's mild words on the brutal suppression of the Iranian government of its own people - the authorities, she said  "should realize that healthy debate on issues of fundamental importance to people's lives informs -  not threatens - policy makers, and that the young, with their boundless energy and optimism are the source of the future solutions to the many pressing problems our planet faces. The Iranian authorities must learn to respect and nurture debate, not seek to close it down."
 
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).    

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036.