Monday, September 18. 2006

Smearing Amnesty International

On the Thursday Sept. 14th edition of Grapevine, Brit Hume had this to say about a new Amnesty International report condeming Hizbullah missile attacks against Israeli civilian targets:

New Better Late Than Never?

Weeks after it condemned Israel for a bombing campaign it said amounted to indiscriminate attacks on Lebanese civilians, Amnesty International is now condemning the terrorist group that initiated the attacks. The human rights group is accusing Hezbollah of war crimes during its conflict with Israel, including "deliberate attacks on civilians."

While the report ruled out Israeli accusations that Hezbollah used civilians as cover during the conflict, it quotes Hezbollah officials who acknowledge keeping weapons in towns and villages. Secretary General Irene Khan said the two reports didn't cancel each other out, but "show both sides of the violence that took place."

Hume dishonestly implies that Amnesty International has been silent, up to now, on Hizbullah attacks against Israeli civilians. However a search of Amnesty International press releases uncovers numerous condemnations of Hizbollah rocket attacks throughout the conflict period. On July 13th, for instance, Amnesty called on all parties to end attacks against civilians noting:

The Israeli and Lebanese governments, and Hizbullah, must take immediate steps to end the ongoing attacks against civilians and civilian objects. Such attacks are a blatant breach of international humanitarian law and amount to war crimes.

...

“Hizbullah must stop launching attacks against Israeli civilians and it must treat humanely the two Israeli soldiers it captured on 12 July and grant them immediate access to the International Committee of the Red Cross...”

On July 27th, Amnesty International called for a military embargo of all parties to the conflict noting:

"Governments supplying Israel and Hizbullah with arms and military equipment are fuelling their capacity to commit war crimes. All governments should impose an arms embargo on both sides and refuse permission for their territories to be used for the transfer of arms and military equipment."

On August 4, Amnesty organized vigils calling for an immediate ceasefire. A spokesman noted:

"The human cost of this conflict is far too high. We demand that the international community call an immediate ceasefire. Civilians in both Lebanon and Israel cannot be left in the line of fire,"

And many more such examples of Amnesty International taking Hizbullah to task for comitting "war crimes" (A.I.'s characterization) against Israeli civilians can be found by anyone willing to spend a few minutes searching the rgoup's website.

The notion that Amnesty International is not an impartial defender of global human rights is one that, over the years, has gained much currency among right-wing ideologues such as Brit Hume. Yet as is the case with this particular segment of Brit Hume's Grapevine, the case is supported largely by innuendo, misrepresentation and distortion.