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By Joel B. Pollak (Breitbart)
Amnesty International, the global human rights organization, accused Israel of “genocide” in a report Thursday — but the Israeli branch of the group disagreed, saying it was never consulted and accusing the main organization of bias.
Amnesty International has long been considered anti-Israel, and lived down to that reputation, blaring on the organization’s website: “Israel Is Committing Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza.” The report says that “during its military offensive launched in the wake of the deadly Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel has unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity.”
But the organization’s own branch in Israel, while critical of the war effort, said Thursday that Israel is not committing “genocide,” and pointed out that the Palestinian terror group Hamas, in fact, had begun the war with genocidal intent. It added that Amnesty International had never consulted its local members about its inquiry, which appeared to have been conducted to reach a predetermined conclusion, unlike investigations elsewhere in the world.
The Times of Israel reported:
The Israeli branch of the international rights group says in a statement that it was not involved in the research, funding, or writing of the report released today, and that it “does not accept the claim that genocide has been proven to be taking place in the Gaza Strip and does not accept the operative findings of the report.”
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In a separate statement obtained by the Haaretz newspaper, several members of Amnesty Israel and Jewish members of Amnesty International go one step further and accuse the report of producing an “artificial analysis” of the situation in the Gaza Strip.
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Accusing the report of having been “motivated by a desire to support a popular narrative among Amnesty International’s target audience,” the joint statement calls for the organization to “critically reconsider the working procedures and methodologies that led to the publication of this flawed report.”
Critics also noted that Amnesty International had redefined “genocide” to make it fit Israel’s war against Hamas:
.@amnesty international literally redefined the legal term of genocide to suit their accusation, stripping the term of its actual meaning in the process. The craziest part? They admit this in their report, correctly assuming that most people won’t read all the way to p. 101: 🧵 https://t.co/lqJYrjkidU
— Mark Goldfeder (@MarkGoldfeder) December 5, 2024
Under this standard, no reasonable observer could argue that Israel’s military actions—directed against Hamas, a terrorist organization explicitly dedicated to Israel’s destruction—constitute genocide.
— Mark Goldfeder (@MarkGoldfeder) December 5, 2024
Several nations, led by South Africa, have accused Israel of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, which has declined to agree thus far but has required Israel to submit reports on its compliance with international treaties.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
