Amnesty International has expressed outrage and alarm at Israeli attempts to target the funding of the London-based rights group. The Israeli action, which is a direct attempt to punish Amnesty, is in retaliation for the right organisation’s stance against Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. As global condemnation and anger grow over the unprecedented and illegal expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, Amnesty has been playing a highly remarkable and laudable role in exposing the Israeli aggression on all fronts, a task which it is supposed to perform. What irks Israel is the global influence and power of Amnesty. The organisation enjoys huge credibility and is in the forefront of the fight against violation of human rights all over the world. Amnesty’s words are trusted by the world, especially in the West, where the Boycott Israel (BDS) movement has been gaining momentum.
Israel has been getting increasingly uneasy and angry at the negative global publicity it is receiving over its illegal actions. It expects the world to forgive and forget its atrocities on Palestinians, the suppression of Palestinian rights and its land grabbing. It wants the world to accept its position and policies on everything ranging from the peace process to the status of Jerusalem. But unfortunately for Israel, and fortunately for Palestinians, organisations like Amnesty are doing an unbiased and commendable job of telling the world who is committing injustice.
An Israeli daily reported yesterday that Amnesty would be the first organisation hit by a 2011 law which penalises those who advocate boycotting the country or products from its settlements. The government has decided to use the law to remove the tax-free status of donations to Amnesty’s Israel branch. Amnesty said the move to punish it over its settlements campaign is deeply alarming. “While we have not been officially informed of any such action by the authorities, if true, this would be a serious setback to freedom of expression and an ominous sign for the ability of human rights NGOs in Israel to operate freely and without arbitrary interference,” the group said in a statement. Israel trumpets itself as the best democracy in the Middle East, a country where freedom of expression ‘is sacrosanct’. But its action against Amnesty is against all democratic ideals and is an attack on freedom of expression.
Withdrawal of funding is a usual tactic of the Israeli government to silence its critics and opponents, which it has employed with glee against UN organisations like Unesco. But this strategy hasn’t worked, and will not work in the case of Amnesty too. Injustice and aggression cannot be covered up with money power.
