Amnesty International’s 2022 Israel Report
The Amnesty report, which came out in January 2022, is yet another travesty that feigns concern for human rights. The organization makes numerous, outlandish assertions against Israel and omits crucial information to support its case. Check out our amazing resources to help you counter Amnesty International’s claims when it comes to Israel.
RESPONDING TO
AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL’s
DISHONEST
ISRAEL REPORT:
Guilherme Paula, Oren neu dag, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Whitewashing
Palestinian
Terrorism
THE CLAIM
The Amnesty report misrepresents Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians and soldiers:
“During protests, demonstrators often resort to low-level violence, throwing stones and rocks at Israeli soldiers but without posing… serious risk to them due to… distance…”
—Amnesty International, “Israel’s Apartheid
Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity”
Additionally, it paints Hamas, a globally recognized terrorist organization, as merely “opponents of Israel’s occupation and its policies.”
WHY IT’S
HORRIBLY WRONG
Amnesty ignores the dangers stone-throwing poses to Israelis. Describing the act as a “low-level” offense is extraordinarily disrespectful to the memory of its victims.
In March 2013, three-year-old Adele Biton and her two sisters were in their mother’s car when a Palestinian rock-throwing attack caused it to slam into a truck. Her sisters were moderately wounded, but Adele had serious neurological injuries. She never fully recovered and passed away two years later.
WHY IT’S
HORRIBLY WRONG
Hamas isn’t simply a political group with nuanced critique of Israel. Its charter publicly and explicitly calls for the destruction of the sole Jewish State.
The report makes no mention of Palestinian terrorism, suicide bombings, stabbings, or even Islamic Jihad.
SOURCE:
The Death of Adele Biton and The New York Times’ Justification of Lopsided Reporting
On Feb. 17, 4-year-old Adele Biton died as a result of complications of pneumonia. Two years earlier she was…
C CAMERA/gini
RESPONDING TO
AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL’s
DISHONEST
ISRAEL REPORT:
Misrepresenting Arab Israeli Perspectives
Photo Credit: U.S. Embassy Jerusalem (Flickr)
THE CLAIM
Amnesty tries to divide Israeli society by labeling Arab Israelis as “Palestinian citizens of Israel.”
However, the vast majority of Israeli Arabs do not identify as Palestinian. Labeling them as such erases their true identities.
WHY IT’S FALSE
A 2019 poll revealed that only 14% of Arab Israelis identify as Palestinian. A more recent report from the Jewish People Policy Institute shows that 93% of Israel’s non-Jewish population doesn’t consider itself Palestinian.
Photo Credit: U.S. Embassy Jerusalem (Flickr)
Many prominent Arab Israelis bitterly spoke out against the assertions of Amnesty:
SOURCES
RESPONDING TO
AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL’s
DISHONEST
ISRAEL REPORT:
False Claims of Apartheid
Photo Credit:
Hossam el-Hamalawy, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
THE CLAIM:
In their report, Amnesty slanderously accuses Israel of perpetrating apartheid:
“This system of apartheid originated with the creation of Israel in May 1948… dismantling this cruel system of apartheid is essential…”
—Amnesty International, “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity”
WHY THIS IS WRONG
Israel was founded in 1948 with democratic ideals:
“We appeal – in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months – to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.”
—Israel’s Declaration of Independence (Times of Israel Translation)
Israel has continuously upheld this commitment.
Photo Credit: U.S. Embassy Jerusalem (Flickr)
ON THE APARTHEID CLAIM TODAY
Palestinians in Gaza and under the Palestinian Authority are not Israeli citizens. According to the Oslo Accords, Hamas and the PA administer these areas and are responsible for the Palestinians living there.
Palestinians in the PA regularly travel to Israel via security checkpoints for work or religious services. These measures came into effect in response to widespread violence and terrorism during the first and second intifada.
Unfortunately, Hamas remains hellbent on Israel’s destruction, making travel to Israel impossible for Gazans.
SOURCE
RESPONDING TO
AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL’s
DISHONEST
ISRAEL REPORT:
Jews Are Illegal in the West Bank
THE CLAIM:
Amnesty falsely asserts that international law prohibits Jews from living in the West Bank:
“There are currently more than 441,600 Jewish settlers in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem. Their presence is illegal under international law.”
—Amnesty International, “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity”
WHY IT’S HORRIBLY WRONG
To suggest international law mandates where Jews – and only Jews – can and cannot live would be to suggest that international law actually allows apartheid against Jews. This is false.
By asserting this position, Amnesty actually advocates for apartheid — a West Bank ethnically cleansed of Jewish people.
Who’s Behind
Amnesty’s Lies?
Amnesty’s 2022 report is part of a widespread propaganda campaign to delegitimize Israel. Its staff is not hiding its agenda.
Agnès Callamard: Amnesty International’s Secretary General
Callamard has a documented E history of ignorance.
She claimed that former Israeli PM Shimon Peres admitted that PLO leader Yasser Arafat was assassinated. He made no such statement.
Even when her falsehood was exposed, she did not delete the tweet or apologize for her error. It can still be found on her account.
Photo Credit: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In 2018, Hamas urged its people to violently tear down the Israel-Gaza border to implement “the right of return.”
Their tactics consisted of planting explosives, shooting at Israeli troops, and calling for the murder of Jews. Despite this clear terrorist violence, Callamard stated:
“There is no available evidence to suggest that the lives of heavily armed security forces were threatened. Israel has ignored repeated demands by the international community to credibly investigate and prosecute substantial allegations of wrongful killings by its security forces.”
Phillip Luther: Research and Advocacy Director and Senior Advisor
When asked about disproportionate targeting and scrutiny of Israel compared to other countries, Luther reverted to antisemitic tropes. He used the tired “Jews have power and control” canard, substituting the word “Jew” with “Israel.”
“[Israel] managed to shut down scrutiny using the power of its relationships…. you can look at UN inaction. Because [Israel] has influence over powerful allies who then manage to stop it, stop the scrutiny.”
Photo Credit: @phillipluther (Twitter)
Saleh Hijazi: Deputy Regional Director of the Middle East and North Africa Branch & Head of the Jerusalem Office
Raised in Ramallah, Hijazi has a long history of anti-Israel activism. He opposes a two-state solution and believes in the country’s elimination.
“Instead of wasting time deliberating which state and how to get it we need to be assertive that any ‘state’ solution within the boundaries of Mandate Palestine is only a step towards complete colonization. The solution to the conflict must be regional and cross border, with important international implications and go beyond the limitation of national liberation according to colonial drawn lines…”
Photo Credit: Screenshot, “Why is Israel trying to silence Palestinian human rights groups by labelling them terrorists?”, TRT World Now (Youtube)
Hijazi publicly campaigns for the BDS movement and has called for “a general boycott of Israeli products”:
“When anyone purchases Israeli products, they are funding the occupation of our land…. Israel has a stranglehold over our economy… we must continue to resist and take action…. Resist! Boycott! We Are Intifada!”
Photo Credit: John Englart (Flickr)
Orly Noy: The Campaign’s Israel Face
Born in Iran, Noy emigrated to Israel with her family during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But she denies antisemitism is, or ever was, a factor among Islamic leaders of Iran.
She strongly opposes the notion of a Jewish state:
“The very idea of Israel as a ‘Jewish democracy’ is a declaration of demographic war against the Palestinians because the imperative is to maintain a Jewish democracy…”
Photo Credit: justvision.org/team/orly-noy
Noy calls for international intervention against Israel, and is a signatory to a petition by a fringe group of Israeli Jews who band together with non- Jews to reject Jewish self-determination.
Reusing Nazi tropes about Jewish supremacy, the petition states:
“As individuals who belong to the side of the oppressor, and that have tried for years to shift public opinion in Israel in order to change the foundations of the current regime, we have long come to the conclusion that it is impossible to change the Jewish supremacist regime without external intervention…”
SOURCES
Read: Amnesty International’s Big Lie About Israel
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