This is a crosspost by Mark Gardner of the CST blog.
It is plain that if the Jewish state is regarded as a pariah, a compulsive serial abuser of human rights, then Jews everywhere will suffer by (real or imaginary) association.
So, it matters when Robert Bernstein, founder and emeritus chair of Human Rights Watch (HRW), and its chairman for 20 years, writes in the New York Times to regretfully inform HRW that its scrutiny and attitude to Israel “are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state”. As with HRW’s recent Marc Garlasco controversy, however, what matters even more is HRW’s public response to Bernstein:
We fundamentally disagree with Mr Bernstein’s views.
Continue reading ‘“We Fundamentally Disagree With Mr Bernstein’s Views”’
Mark Gardner of the CST with an important piece here.
As documented on numerous other blogs - here and here and here for starters - it appears that this person and this person are one and the same. So what does this tell us about the Human Rights Watch researcher and virulent Israel critic, Marc Garlasco?
Continue reading ‘Nazi Chic at Human Rights Watch’
I have already written here and here about a violent attack on a street celebration in the city of Buenos Aires of the 61st anniversary of the foundation of Israel and later about the petition signed by various pillars of the Argentine human rights movement calling for the attackers to be released forthwith. On Wednesday last there appeared in Pagina /12 a lengthy article by Osvaldo Bayer justifying his support for the petition and today in the same paper there’s a brief reply from Daniel Goldman.
Continue reading ‘Antisemitism, Human Rights and Acceptable Jews in Buenos Aires’
This is a guest post by Terry Glavin.
Today is May Day, the holiday most of the world marks as international workers’ day. North Americans call it Labour Day and celebrate it on the first Monday in September, usually without much of a thought about its meaning, but it’s the same holiday.
Continue reading ‘On Solidarity: May Day Reflections’
I’ve just written and directed a new video for AJC on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. You can watch it on YouTube here.
“You can only imagine what would happen if Israel dealt with its internal political enemies or dissenters in such a fashion,” writes Richard Cohen of a new Human Rights Watch report detailing the appalling abuses of human rights entailed by the continuing rule of Hamas in Gaza.
Continue reading ‘The Hideous Face of Hamas Rule in Gaza’
“Omidreza Mirsayafi was Iran’s first known casualty in the skirmishes between bloggers challenging the Islamic regime and authorities striking back with the tools they know best — imprisonment and intimidation.”
More on the trials facing Iranian bloggers here.
“It was as if the media were altogether so eager to find reason to criticize the IDF that they pounced on one discussion by nine soldiers who met after returning from the battlefield to share their experiences and subjective feelings with each other, using that one episode to draw conclusions that felt more like an indictment. Dogma replaced balance and led to a dangerous misunderstanding of the depth and complexity of Israeli reality. The individual accounts were never intended to serve as a basis for broad generalizations and summary conclusions by the media; they were published internally, intended for program graduates and their parents as a tool to be used in the process of educating and guiding the next generation.”
So writes Major Danny Zamir, laying to rest claims that the IDF engaged in planned, coordinated war crimes in Gaza. Emphasis added. In any case, read the rest.
Thanks to Petra for bringing this to our attention.
Jenni Frazer in the Jewish Chronicle has a darkly amusing story about yet another hoax perpetrated by the Iranian Holocaust denial outfit, Press TV.
Continue reading ‘Press TV: Professional Liars’
This is a guest post by ganselmi.
In an earlier post, Ben highlighted my comment on the nature of the Iranian regime. I have to say: I wish I could reveal my real name the way Ben and the other Z Word bloggers can. But the very fact that I — like most other dissident bloggers within and outside Iran — have to be so careful in dealing with the IRI is itself a testament to just how dangerous this regime is. Which is why I wish some of our friends on the left weren’t so singularly devoted to condemning the US and Israel as to delude themselves about the openly-declared aims and intentions of Khamenei, Ahmadinejad et al. But I also want to say something else.
Continue reading ‘Reach Out To Iran’s People’
It’s rare for us to highlight the comments on this blog, but I did want to draw your attention to this one on a recent piece by Eamonn. “I was born to a secular Muslim family in Iran and lived there until I was fourteen,” says a contributor named ganselmi. “I still have family back there. And I will say that the current regime in Iran makes life absolutely hellish, not just for Jews, Armenians, and Baha’is, but for all Iranians. To minimize the IRI’s Islamist brutality — especially from those who should know better — is simply inexcusable.”
In recent weeks, the courageous Nicholas Kristof, accompanied by George Clooney, has been revisiting the hell on earth that has enveloped Darfur and eastern Chad. In one of his searing columns, he wrote about a 27 year-old woman named Suad Ahmed.
Continue reading ‘Darfur: A Blow to Al-Bashir’
Writing in response to my translation of part of a column by Jordi Soler, David Schraub says,
… of late I’ve observed that folks who are trying to argue that certain criticisms of Israel are anti-Semitic always preface with “of course, one can criticize Israel without it being anti-Semitic. But….” This affirmation hasn’t had much of an impact on people who believe that one can’t engage in such criticism without being tarred with the brush; I assume it’s because they think that the caveat is completely theoretical and that no critique (at least, that isn’t completely mealy-mouthed) will ever pass muster. The fact that Z-Word went beyond theoretical affirmation and was willing to say this article, though we might disagree with it, is a harsh criticism of Israel that is nonetheless not anti-Semitic hopefully will help dissipate some of that mistrust.
Continue reading ‘Soler Redux: Criticizing Israel and Antisemitism’
This is a guest post by David Adler.
I take no pleasure from the fact that right-wing pundits are lashing Helen Thomas, the veteran White House correspondent, over her two-part question to President Barack Obama last night. And yet Thomas deserves to be upbraided. The fact that she’s held up by liberals as a paragon of courage is an embarrassment. Drifting further toward the fringe every day, she certainly doesn’t speak for me.
Continue reading ‘Helen Thomas, Albatross’
