Amnesty International
“This sort of rhetoric won’t do anything to solve the underlying problems and only gives talking points to radical extremists,” stated Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio).
The organization’s statements on Israel “are focused on the actions of the Israeli government—they are not, and never will be, a condemnation of Judaism or the Jewish people,” says the organization.
Avi Bell, a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law and at Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Law, told JNS “the big challenge would be to find any claims by Amnesty that are defensible from a legal point of view.”
Israel ‘must go on offensive’ to counter fallacious content by Amnesty International, urge watchdogs
“The best thing is expose the facts—to show that that they’re making things up,” says Anne Herzberg, legal adviser for NGO Monitor. “Transparency is another big issue. I don’t think anyone has revealed yet who wrote the report.”
“We don’t offer our own public comprehensive evaluations of reports, but we certainly reject the label that has been attached to this when speaking about Israel,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), said the report “belies history, facts and common sense. Israel remains the only democracy in a region of autocrats and human-rights abusers.”
The Palestinian Authority also called on the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation into Israel’s “crime against humanity ... without delay.”
Nides responds to Amnesty report accusing Israel of apartheid: ‘This is absurd’
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog went further: “It totally distorts the true meaning of the phrase apartheid to suit its political purposes and totally distorts the true nature of Israel.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid says new report calling Israel an “apartheid state” shows that Amnesty is “another radical organization that echoes propaganda with no serious examination. Instead of seeking facts, Amnesty quotes lies spread by terrorist organizations.”
The possibility of doing so caused some pushback from some State Department officials, lawmakers and the Anti-Defamation League.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam seem to be in Washington’s crosshairs over their affiliation with the BDS movement.
Amnesty International claimed that NSO Group, whose technology enables the surveillance of smartphones, helped the Moroccan government spy on a human-rights activist critical of Rabat.
