Yes, Amnesty International has disgraced itself yet again with this well-publicized diatribe, in which the U.S. is lambasted for human rights violations and Guantanamo Bay is dubbed "the gulag of our times."
But a few days ago, AI issued this statement, entitled "Israel/Occupied Territories: Palestinian armed groups must not use children," which hinted at the possibility of a slight attempt at balance.
No such luck.
After a few opening paragraphs about the use by "Palestinian armed groups" (is that what they are?) of children in "armed activities" and (give them credit) some "suicide attacks," the report proceeds with this subtle segue:
Palestinian armed groups have repeatedly shown total disregard for the most fundamental human rights, notably the right to life, by deliberately targeting Israeli civilians and by using Palestinian children in armed attacks. Children are susceptible to recruitment by manipulation or may be driven to join armed groups for a variety of reasons, including a desire to avenge relatives or friends killed by the Israeli army.
And then continues full tilt for the balance of the piece to (you guessed it) bludgeon Israel for human rights violations against palestinian children.
In recent years, Palestinian children have borne the brunt of the suffering caused by the conflict and have frequently been the victims of Israeli army attacks in the Occupied Territories. More than 600 Palestinian children have been killed and thousands have been injured by the Israeli army in the past four and a half years (1). Some 25 have been killed this year alone. Hundreds of thousands of others have been prevented from going to school and effectively confined to their homes by Israeli army blockades and curfews. Others have repeatedly been attacked on their way to school by Israeli settlers who continue to carry out such attacks with impunity.
Thousands of Palestinian children have been arrested by the Israeli army and hundreds are currently detained and accused of security offences. Many of those detained have been ill-treated or tortured by Israeli forces and some have been forced or pressured to become “collaborators†with Israeli intelligence services. Such practices by Israeli forces violate international human rights and humanitarian law.
And a closing expression of righteous equivalence to bring us back, tangentially, to the alleged topic of the report,
“The exploitation of children, who are often particularly vulnerable or traumatized, by armed groups and armed forces must cease at once, as must the killing of children, and those responsible for such crimes must be brought to justiceâ€, said Amnesty International.
What's that, you say? There was a footnote in there? Oh, yes, indeed. A small point, really, hardly deserving of mention, but, well, here it is:
(1). In the same period 108 Israeli children and have killed and hundreds of others injured by Palestinian armed groups in deliberate attacks against Israeli civilians in Israel and in the Occupied Territories.
A bit mangled, but you get the drift. Just a footnote to the "conflict," after all. It's not as if the roadblocks and the curfews were the direct and necessary consequence of these very attacks or anything. Amazing what a little misdirection and lack of context can accomplish.
