Amnesty’s Israel chief takes issue with ‘apartheid’ report
AMNESTY International’s Israel chief has claimed the charity’s controversial “apartheid” report will “harm” the prospect of peace.
Amnesty International published a 278-page report at the beginning of this month criticising Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
The report was welcomed by the Palestinian Authority, which said it hoped the report would open the way for Israel to be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court.
However,the report was also met with accusations of anti-semitism.
Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister, said: “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.”
The executive director of Amnesty International Israel has waded into the debate, claiming that the report which states that Palestinians are suffering under “apartheid” may undermine the NGOS cause of human rights.
Molly Malekar told The Times of Israel: “I do not see what goals this report promotes, and I see how it may harm our goals, the promotion of human rights in Israel and the occupied territories.” Ms Malekar said that there was a struggle within Israel for the “character of the state” and dialogue was necessary.
She added: “This report does just the opposite… it closes gaps, strengthens the wall, prevents dialogue.”
The report’s treatment of Palestinians was also problematic, she added.
“They are treated as perpetual, passive victims of apartheid, devoid of any rights and ability to act.”
However, Ms Malekar dismissed claims that the NGO had an anti-israel bias, adding that it has previously reported on human rights violations among Palestinians in the territories and Iran.
Ms Malekar went on to say she takes issue with Amnesty’s global treatment of anti-semitism.
At the time the report was published, Agnès Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general, rejected claims of anti-semitism and said: “Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights.
“Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid.” Amnesty International was contacted for comment.