Israeli Right-Wing Accuses Jewish Human Rights Organizations of Helping ICC

Arab World

December 27th, 8:05am

Tel Aviv- Asharq Al-Awsat

A member of Amnesty International wears a mask during a rally against Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, Jan. 13, 2009. (AP/ Lee Jin-man)

The Israeli right-wing accused on Thursday a number of human rights organizations of helping the International Criminal Court (ICC) to target Israel. Following her decision to move forward with an investigation into Israeli war crimes against Palestinians, ICC top prosecutor Fatou Bensouda was met with a campaign of leaks and accusations seeking to distort her image. The concerned organizations mainly include Human Rights Watch, which is directed by Kenneth Roth, considered by the Israeli right wing as “an obsessive anti-Israel activist, who hired numerous other anti-Israel activists.” The second NGO is Amnesty International (AI), which run a similar effort, but with less impact. According to NGO Monitor president and founder Professor Gerald Steinberg, HRW and AI directed a long campaign to drag Israel to the court in The Hague. Steinberg said a number of Palestinian NGOs closely linked to the PLO and the PFLP terror organization have added to the campaign, accompanied by the usual Israeli groups. “NGOs that have spent and received billions of dollars that are supposed to be the guardians of universal human rights have become the purveyors of that same poison. We must not just sit and discuss the nature of that process, but focus on the ways to return the world of human rights to its moral and ethical foundations, effectively addressing the anti-Semitism we see in many different forms,” Steinberg said. Judicial sources in Tel Aviv asserted last Sunday that Bensouda’s decision to move forward with an investigation into the Israeli war crimes against Palestinians would open up current and former government officials and military personnel to prosecution on the global stage. During the weekend, Israeli media focused on the possibility that Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and current or former military or political officials,face the risk of arrest in more than 100 countries in the world,after the ICC opens an official investigation on suspicions of war crimes in the Palestinian territory. Meanwhile, the Ynet news website wrote that Bensouda, who used to advise an authoritarian president in her native Gambia is now set to launch a probe into alleged Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians. “Her time under (Yayah) Jammeh's rule has earned Bensouda a fair share of criticism, with many accusing her of turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed by the Gambian dictator,” it said. The website added that the ICC prosecutor was once considered to be a firm ally of the State of Israel. In 2010 she faced immense pressure to investigate Israel following the Gaza flotilla raid that left nine foreign activists killed on one of the ships and 10 Israeli soldiers wounded.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2054491/israeli-right-wing-accuses-jewish-human-rights-organizations-helping-icc