The Jerusalem Post reports that HRW founder Robert L.Bernstein criticizes HRW for “helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state.” Norwegian daily DagenMagazinet follows up on it. Other Norwegian newspapers, so eager to comment when HRW condemns Israel, remain silent on occasions such as this – actually Dagsavisen, a minor daily, covers it here.
From the JP:
He said the group had “lost critical perspective on a conflict in which Israel has been repeatedly attacked by Hamas and Hizbullah, organizations that go after Israeli citizens and use their own people as human shields.”
Bernstein stressed that those terror groups were backed by Iran, which has called for the annihilation of Israel and the Jews, and said such incitement to genocide was a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
“Leaders of Human Rights Watch know that Hamas and Hizbullah chose to wage war from densely populated areas, deliberately transforming neighborhoods into battlefields,” he wrote. “They know that more and better arms are flowing into both Gaza and Lebanon and are poised to strike again. And they know that this militancy continues to deprive Palestinians of any chance for the peaceful and productive life they deserve. Yet Israel, the repeated victim of aggression, faces the brunt of Human Rights Watch’s criticism.”
