Israel, Jewish orgs slam new Amnesty report, ‘originating from hate’

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the following announcement regarding an anti-Israel Amnesty UK report due to be published Tuesday.

By MFA Spokesman

The State of Israel absolutely rejects all the false allegations that appear in the report that Amnesty is expected to publish tomorrow.

The report consolidates and recycles lies, inconsistencies, and unfounded assertions that originate from well-known anti-Israeli hate organizations, all with the aim of reselling damaged goods in new packaging. Repeating the same lies of hate organizations over and over does not make the lies reality, but rather makes Amnesty illegitimate.

In publishing this false report, Amnesty UK uses double standards and demonization in order to delegitimize Israel. These are the exact components from which modern antisemitism is made.

The report denies the State of Israel’s right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people. Its extremist language and distortion of historical context were designed to demonize Israel and pour fuel onto the fire of antisemitism.

A few days after International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we once again learn that antisemitism is not just a part of history, but unfortunately, is also part of today’s reality. Just last weekend, Jews were attacked in London simply because they were Jewish. Amnesty’s report effectively serves as a green light for the perpetrators and others to harm not only Israel, but Jews around the world.

The State of Israel is a strong and vibrant democracy that grants all its citizens equal rights, regardless of religious or race. The State of Israel was established as the national home of the Jewish people with broad international support, in light of the lessons of the Holocaust.

Amnesty criticizes the very existence of the State of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, and effectively denies its right to exist at all.

It is not surprising that this report is being published by the British branch of Amnesty International, and under the auspices of the organization’s Secretary General. This branch is notorious for being corrupted by racism and xenophobia, and the organization’s Secretary General has previously accused Israel – with no basis or evidence – of murdering Arafat.

It is not surprising that it took Amnesty eight years to back down from this serious and baseless accusation.

We call on Amnesty to withdraw from the report which is set to be published. This is a report which would be preferable not to publish at all, given that it does not respect those who truly value and are trying to project human rights.

The State of Israel will continue to promote the values of democracy and inclusiveness, in whose light it was established and continues to exist.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid: “Amnesty was once an esteemed organization that we all respected. Today, it is the exact opposite. It is not a human rights organization, but just another radical organization that echoes propaganda with no serious examination.

“Instead of seeking facts, Amnesty quotes lies spread by terrorist organizations. Five minutes of serious factchecking were enough to know that the facts that appeared in the report published this week were a delusion divorced from reality.

“Israel is not perfect, but it is a democracy committed to international law and open to scrutiny, with a free press and strong Supreme Court.

“Amnesty does not call Syria an ‘apartheid state’ – a country whose government murdered half a million of its own citizens – nor Iran or any other corrupt and murderous regime in Africa or Latin America. I hate to use the argument that if Israel were not a Jewish state, nobody in Amnesty would dare argue against it, but in this case, there is no other possibility.”

WJC, ADL weigh in; ‘nothing constructive to offer’

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder said that “this report highlights, once again, the repeated bias Israel is targeted with as the only Jewish state.

“By issuing this one-sided and blatantly politicized report which totally ignores both Palestinian acts of terrorism and Israel’s obligation to defend its citizens against such terrorism, Amnesty International UK is consciously participating in the ongoing insidious campaign to demonize the State of Israel.”

“The report does absolutely nothing to offer a constructive way forward and has no real interest in promoting the human rights of Palestinians or advancing peace and a lasting two-state solution. It will only serve, like previous similar prejudiced reports, to fuel the fires of antisemites under the guise of political correctness. The working definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance also clearly states that the application of such double standards is antisemitism. I will never stop condemning and fighting against this and all other abusive attempts to delegitimize the State of Israel,” Lauder said.

“This new report goes beyond criticizing Israeli policies and actions to painting Israel’s very creation as illegitimate, immoral, and faulted,” the Anti-Defamation League stated.
Amnesty International’s allegations that Israel’s crimes go back to the sin of its creation in 1948, serve to present the Jewish and democratic state as singularly illegitimate at its foundational roots.

“Such a hateful characterization not only delegitimizes the Israeli state enterprise and the Jewish right to self-determination in its historic homeland, but also undermines the vision of a mutually negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that will provide security, dignity, and self-determination to both peoples,” the ADL said.

“In addition, by using extreme language to attack Israel – including calling it an apartheid state, accusing it of ethnic cleansing and of committing war crimes – it feeds into an environment that emboldens those who seek to dismantle Israel, and casts aspersions on those who support a Jewish and democratic state, including the vast majority of Jews around the world and creates fertile ground for a hostile and at times antisemitic discourse.

“In an age of expanding antisemitism, this cost simply cannot be ignored.”

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