Amnesty International Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand. (chameleonseye/istock)
Amnesty International Israel rejects a report released by the wider Amnesty International movement that accuses Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli organization says in a statement to the press, with some members accusing the reports’ authors of reaching a “predetermined conclusion.”
The Israeli branch of the international rights group says in a statement that it was not involved in the research, funding, or writing of the report released today, and that it “does not accept the claim that genocide has been proven to be taking place in the Gaza Strip and does not accept the operative findings of the report.”
It says that although “the scale of the killing and destruction carried out by Israel in Gaza has reached horrific proportions and must be stopped immediately,” it does not believe that the events “meet the definition of genocide as strictly laid out in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”
Despite rejecting the claim of genocide, Amnesty Israel nevertheless asserts that Israel’s actions in Gaza “raise suspicions of widespread and serious violations of international law and crimes against humanity,” and calls for steps to be taken that will bring an immediate end to the war in Gaza, which was sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel.
The statement also appears to criticize the double standard adopted by Amnesty International with regard to Israel and Hamas.
“There have been allegations that both the massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7 and the Israeli attack on Gaza following the massacre were genocide or attempted genocide,” Amnesty Israel states. “It is imperative and correct to investigate these allegations and to ensure that the standard required to prove intent to commit genocide is universal and consistent for all parties, as well as in any other case in the world where similar concerns are raised.”
In a separate statement obtained by the Haaretz newspaper, several members of Amnesty Israel and Jewish members of Amnesty International go one step further and accuse the report of producing an “artificial analysis” of the situation in the Gaza Strip.
“From the outset, the report was referred to in international correspondence as the ‘genocide report,’ even when the research was still in its initial stages,” Haaretz cites the Amnesty members as saying.
“This is a strong indication of bias and also a factor that can cause additional bias: imagine how difficult it is for a researcher to work for months on a report titled ‘genocide report’ and then to have to conclude that it is ‘only’ about crimes against humanity,” they add. “Predetermined conclusions of this kind are not typical of other Amnesty International investigations.”
Accusing the report of having been “motivated by a desire to support a popular narrative among Amnesty International’s target audience,” the joint statement calls for the organization to “critically reconsider the working procedures and methodologies that led to the publication of this flawed report.” (Times of Israel)
Amnesty International Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand. (chameleonseye/istock)
