HRW REPORTS TARGET ISRAEL, WHILE SAUDI ABUSES GET BRIEF EMAILS
Human Rights Watch and Its Saudi Donors, The Forward, July 22, 2009
Comment: Gerald Steinberg — NGO Monitor:
HRW and its hard-core defenders claim that the NGO superpower does not target Israel, does not use double standards, and should be immune from independent investigation. For example, this article notes “a recent review by the news agency Inter Press Service found that of more than 30 releases in June and July (so far) about the region, Israel was criticized three times, Saudi Arabia five times and Iran nine times.”
This claim confuses very different activities, in order to disguise clear evidence of HRW’s disproportionate focus on allegations targeting Israel. The heavy weapons in HRW’s arsenal are glossy reports, footnoted to provide the facade of “research” accompanied by press conferences, media interviews, briefings for diplomats, and similar attention generating activities. This is how Ken Roth and other HRW officials mark the issues in which they are seriously interested, as distinct from minor human rights infractions that get a short email or press release, and are forgotten, except when needed to refute the evidence of double standards.
The HRW website shows that in Sarah Leah Whitson’s Middle East and NA division, one such “research report” was published in June and July — consisting of condemnations of Israel for alleged (and entirely speculative) use of drones in 6 (or maybe 4, or perhaps no) incidents in which civilians in Gaza might have been killed. For this pseudo-research, HRW pulled out all the stops — a full dress press conference, interviews, embassy tour, etc. In sharp contrast, HRW’s items on Iran and Saudi Arabia consist of brief statements — without press conferences or other efforts to publicize them. And in terms of substance, HRW’s reports condemning Israel are based on unverifiable allegations, in sharp contrast to the human rights violations of Iran and Saudi Arabia. For more on the methodology and comparing the resources and political agendas of human rights organizations, see NGO Monitor’s detailed reports .
