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HRW Anti-Israel Bias Now A Mathematical Certainty

Standards

They've even got pie charts. The JPost writeup focuses on two broad charges, both of which naturally elicit shocked, shocked denials mingled with oh-so-righteous indignation.

(1) HRW only trots out "collective punishment" when it's Israel protecting itself from Palestinian terrorism:

Human Rights Watch has systematically condemned Israel for "collective punishment" in the Gaza Strip, undermining its stated agenda of promoting human rights universally, according to a report released this week by the Jerusalem-based watchdog NGO Monitor... "This report shows, yet again, that any claim of even-handedness by Human Rights Watch is hollow," said NGO Monitor's executive director, Bar-Ilan University Prof. Gerald Steinberg. "Their exclusive condemnation of Israeli 'collective punishment' is discriminatory, and should end immediately... "The idea that we exclusively condemn Israel is absurd," said HRW Middle East Division Deputy Director Joe Stork. "We do criticize the Israeli blockade of Gaza as collective punishment, and solidly so."

And yet:

While Stork could not point out any other country HRW had accused of "collective punishment," he stood by his organization's use of the term, and its application to Israeli policies in the Gaza Strip.

(2) HRW is so enamored with "cycle of violence" narratives - which de facto excuse Arab aggression - that they label indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel "retaliatory":

The report also mentions that while HRW condemns IDF actions against Hamas-sponsored rocket attacks from Gaza, the attacks themselves are labeled as "retaliatory," thus faulting Israel for the violence on both sides. "That's absolutely false," said Stork. "We do not characterize these attacks as such, and if it's quoted in the report, it's been taken out of context. I'd be surprised if they're quoted at all."

He's actually kind of right, although this is JPost's mistake not Steinberg's. The "retaliation" quote that some HRW hack dropped isn't about Hamas - it's about Hezbollah:

The argument that Israel committed “worse” atrocities makes the Islamic Resistance’s violations no less significant. That Israel violated the laws of war does not justify the Islamic Resistance’s failure to abide by such laws; that Israel carried out indiscriminate strikes on populated areas in southern Lebanon in no way justifies the Islamic Resistance’s retaliatory strikes on civilian areas in Israel.

In fairness to JPost, it's an easy mistake to make. All of the genocidal anti-Israel organizations call themselves resistance organizations. Although it's a little curious that Hezbollah had stockpiled all those rockets up for "retaliation" Were they expecting that Israel might have a reason to come after them in the near future?

The full report is extensive, but it still can't include all of HRW's absurd anti-Israel shilling. This particular piece of nonsense, for instance, gets only the most cursory allusion.

References:
* NGO Monitor’s 2007 Report on HRW: Bias and Double Standards Continue [NGO Monitor]
* NGO accuses HRW of Israel obsession [JPost]
* The Protection of Civilians Has No Limits [HRW]
* HRW: "No Basis" For Claims That Hezbollah Used Human Shields. MR: What About All The Photos And Videos [Video] [MR]

Previously:
* Shameless, Textbook Example of Anti-Israel Bias: The LA Times Reports on Hezbollah Cluster Bombs Fired At Israel
* Dr. Freud, Line 1
* The Problem Isn't Any Particular Religion...

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