Israel contends daily with lies invented to undermine its legitimacy. Now Amnesty International lists the Jewish state together with the Islamic State and the Assad regime in Syria for “war crimes.”

Hamas prepares to launch rockets on Israel. (Photo: Abed Khatib/Flash90)

Amnesty International has become increasingly political, while its credibility declines further, an Israeli NGO (non-governmental organization) charged after Amnesty published a report on Wednesday alleging that Israel committed war crimes and urging the world to withhold arms sales to the IDF.

In its annual report, Amnesty demanded that the global community halt arms shipments to countries such as Iraq, Syria and Israel that could use them to commit “mass atrocities,” and that there is a  “high likelihood that these weapons would be used against civilian populations trapped in conflict.”

Amnesty’s 414-page report lumps Israel together with the Islamic State (ISIS) and the Assad tyrannical regime in Syria. It mentions the Hamas terror organization only briefly, saying that it committed war crimes by indiscriminately firing rockets at Israel.

“The July assault on Gaza [Operation Protective Edge] by Israeli forces caused the loss of 2,000 Palestinian lives. The great majority of those, 1,500, were civilians,” Amnesty claims, adding that Israel’s conduct was “marked by callous indifference and involved war crimes.”

‘Strong Ideological Bias’

An Israeli woman treated by MDA after a rocket attack. (Photo: Flash90)

NGO Monitor, an independent research institution that monitors other NGOs claiming to fight for human rights but which in fact assault Israel, decried Amnesty’s claim to do “research” on human rights abuses, stating that its methodology is “either non-existent or highly unreliable.”

“Analysis and conclusions are speculative, not factual or legal,” the NGO watchdog points out, warning that “journalists, diplomats, and academics who quote this report and similar publications must examine each claim independently.”

NGO Monitor further pointed to Amnesty’s “strong ideological bias, particularly targeting Israel.”

“According to Amnesty, there is a conflict “raging” in Gaza, but not in Israel. There is no mention of Hamas or of the displacement of Israelis in southern Israel as a result of thousands of rockets (each one a war crime) fired at Israeli population centers during the summer conflict,” NGO Monitor writes.

Amnesty denies Israel’s legitimate right to self-defense, NGO Monitor continues, as it complains that “transfers of munitions to Israel continued even as alleged war crimes were being committed.”

Aside from the lack of evidence to sustain the “war crimes” charges, the munitions brought into Israel, such as the Iron Dome anti-missile system, were used to defend Israeli civilians from illegal attacks from Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza.

Amnesty could have condemned Hamas for illegal and systematic exploitation of hospitals, mosques, and homes in Gaza – which was directly responsible for civilian casualties during the fighting – but failed to do so. “These are the issues that deserve sustained attention by human rights groups such as Amnesty International, in order to reduce the impact of armed conflict on civilians. Unfortunately, many Amnesty officials and ‘researchers’ are so deeply involved in promoting the narrative of Palestinian victimhood and Israeli guilt, and remain blind to the requirements of universal human rights,” NGO Monitor stated.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has not commented on the report to date.

By: United with Israel Staff