Toronto Star columnist Haroon Siddiqui bashed the decision made by the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development to cease grants to Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations in his January 30, 2010 article “How the Harperites ambushed the rights agency.”

Siddiqui writes the following in this regard:

“That politics played out at the centre. The majority voted 7-6 to repudiate three grants of $10,000 each to B'Tselem (an Israeli NGO critical of human rights violations), Al Haq (in the West Bank) and Al Mazen (in Gaza), approved by Remy Beauregard, the centre's president, who died earlier this month after a stormy board meeting.

“Aurel Braun, board chair, and his allies have echoed the Israeli position that the head of Al Haq, Shawan Jabarin, has ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a banned terrorist organization, including in Canada. And that Jabarin is under a travel ban. But, as with most Mideast matters, there's a counter-narrative.”[1]

Siddiqui is right. There is counter-narrative. My ongoing research in recent years has demonstrated that “human rights” is not a magic word that turns Israeli and Palestinian organizations into angels. In more than one hundred articles (most of them in Hebrew) dealing mainly with Btselem but also with Amnesty, Human rights Watch, PCHR, al-Mezan and others, I’ve documented enormous cases of inaccurate reports and biased approaches.

A Palestinian blogger criticizes the pragmatism of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), whose members while heading human rights organizations do not refrain from receiving money from countries which designate the PFLP as a terrorist organization. In this regard, the Palestinian blogger mentions “the comrade (common alias of a PFLP member) Shawan Jabarin who receives direct financial support from [American] Ford Foundation”. Other “comrades” (PFLP’s members) who are involved in human rights activity are also named in his list, including Lamia Jabarin (chairperson of Mandela Institute for Human Rights), Khleda Jarrar Addameer’s chairperson (and member of parliament representing PFLP) and Mariam Abu Daqqa who runs the Association of Women Committees for Social Work, supported by the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA).[2]

Leaving aside the question of funding or defunding human rights organizations, it is worthwhile to refrain from being deluded by the image of these organizations and to put them under scrutiny, as it done in the following analysis on Btselem’s double standards regarding investigating war crimes.

Btselem, the Israeli human rights organization, published an official announcement on February 24, 2010 entitled: “Hamas report to UN shamefully evades responsibility”. In its announcement, Btselem harshly criticized the Hamas government’s response to the Goldstone report, which argued that the “Palestinian armed grouped” launched rockets only at military targets and that it intended just to convey a political message. Btselem stressed that “these claims are baseless, both with respect to the facts and to the provisions of international humanitarian law”.

Btselem contends that Hamas government is capable of launching an independent and impartial investigation. However, Btselem’s executive director, Jessica Montell, stresses that she does not have any illusions that Hamas will seriously and honestly investigate war crimes committed by its people. How does Btselem settle the contradiction between the two opposite positions?

Btselem demands that Israel establish an independent investigative committee which will include an international legal expert. Why Btselem does not raise similar demands regarding war crimes committed by the Palestinians and feels comfortable with the demand that Hamas government investigates its war crimes against Israel?

Btselem demands that the Israel’s political echelon also be investigated with regard to Operation Cast Lead. Why does Btselem refrain for posing a similar demand to investigate the political echelon in the Gaza Strip, particularly the Hamas government?

Btselem chose not to answer this query for its own considerations. The right of response is kept and will be kept for Btselem.

After rejecting the “shameful” arguments of the Hamas government, Btselem calls the same Hamas government to take following measures:

“The Hamas government has the obligation to conduct an effective and independent investigation to investigate the claims that armed Palestinian groups who operated in the Gaza Strip during the operation attacked Israeli civilians, and to prosecute the persons responsible for violation of international humanitarian law. The Hamas government must also investigate the claims that these groups harmed and endangered the lives of Palestinians, and prosecute everyone responsible for those acts.” [3]

Such a demand is perplexing and incomprehensible. How can Btselem, while contending that Hamas government submitted a falsified and groundless response to the Goldstone Report, believe that the Hamas government is capable of conducting “an effective and independent investigation” of war crimes committed by its own people during Cast Lead Operation?

Btselem peculiar logic: Hamas should not be trusted and therefore Hamas has to investigate itself

The confusion regarding Btselem’s logic is even more intensified in light of an article recently published by Btselem’s executive director Jessica Montell. In her article for the Israeli newswire “walla” (January 27, 2010), Montell wrote the following (translated from Hebrew):

“Unfortunately, I have no illusions that Hamas will sincerely investigate the war crimes committed by its own people. I don’t have any expectations that Hamas will carry out its duty to bring to justice those who are responsible for launching rockets at the south of the country [Israel] and the severe damages in lives, souls and property, and thus without mentioning the armed operatives who opened fire from the vicinity of Palestinian civilians’ houses hoping that they would provide them protection from Israel’s retaliation.” [4]

Btselem’s executive director does not give Hamas credit conducting “an effective and independent investigation” in the future, and therefore the question remains: why does Btselem not demand the establishment of a Palestinian independent committee to probe violations of international humanitarian law and investigate the political echelon, including the Hamas government headed by Ismail Haniya?

In another article to the Lebanese “Daily Star” (February 27, 2009), Jessica Montell doubted the possibility of bringing Hamas war criminals to justice as demonstrated in the following excerpt:

“But how do we ensure accountability for Hamas’ war crimes in Gaza? What system, domestic or international, will investigate its crimes and hold it responsible? The answer is that there probably is none.” [5]

An independent and reliable legal system, according to Montell, does not exist in the Gaza Strip and no other legal system worldwide is capable of bring Hamas to justice and therefore, no sanctions are relevant to Hamas war criminals.

Btselem’s spokesperson, Sarit Michaeli, also doubted the logic and effectiveness of Btselem’s demand from Hamas to investigate crimes of his own people. In an interview with Israeli website Omedia (November 20, 2007), Michaeli describes such a demand as hallucinatory. “I know that this demand is hallucinatory, but we are obliged to ask it from those who are responsible for the violations”, she said. [6]

It seems that Btselem insists on raising “hallucinatory” demands from Hamas to investigate its war crimes, even though Btselem does not believe that the Hamas government is capable of conducting an “effective and independent investigation”. In addition to this paradox, Btselem refrains from insistently and clearly requesting an investigation into the Palestinian political echelon for its responsibility for war crimes.

Unlike the lenient approach towards Hamas Btselem is strict with Israel and demanding the establishment of independent investigative committee

Btselem’s approach regarding suspicions of war crimes committed by Israel during Cast Lead operation is totally different. An official announcement, signed by nine Israel human rights organizations including Btselem, calls for the establishment of an “impartial investigative body which will conduct an independent and effective investigation.”

The announcement states the following:

“In light of the above, the organizations called on the Prime Minister to establish, without further delay, an impartial investigative body which will conduct an independent and effective investigation of incidents in which allegations have been raised that Israel violated the provisions of international law during Operation Cast Lead. In order that the investigation will be seen as credible, the organizations believe that a foreign expert on international humanitarian law should be a part of this process. The investigation should examine Israel’s conduct during Operation Cast Lead, including an examination of accountability on the political and command level. Likewise, the investigative body should be charged with preparing the legal groundwork for future military conduct.” [7]

Its own statements demonstrate the paradox deeply rooted in Btselem’s approach. Btselem argues that the Hamas terrorist government should investigate war crimes even though it cannot be trusted to conduct a reliable investigation. On the other hand, the government of the democratic State of Israel does not deserve confidence for launching an effective and impartial investigation and therefore it is essential to assemble an independent investigative committee which will include an international legal expert and will also probe the military and political high rank echelons.

Btselem contends that Hamas government is capable of launching an independent and impartial investigation. However, Btselem’s executive director, Jessica Montell, stresses that she does not have any illusions that Hamas will seriously and honestly investigate war crimes committed by its people. How does Btselem settle the contradiction between the two opposite positions?

Btselem demands that Israel establish an independent investigative committee which will include an international legal expert. Why Btselem does not raise similar demands regarding war crimes committed by the Palestinians and feels comfortable with the demand that Hamas government investigates its war crimes against Israel?

Btselem demands that the Israel’s political echelon also be investigated with regard to Operation Cast Lead. Why does Btselem refrain for posing a similar demand to investigate the political echelon in the Gaza Strip, particularly the Hamas government?

Btselem chose not to answer this query for its own considerations. The right of response is kept and will be kept for Btselem.

Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi serves as director of research for the Orient Research Group Ltd., a strategic and private information services company, and as a senior researcher of the Middle East and Radical Islam at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs headed by former Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Dore Gold. Mr.Halevi is also a special consultant to the Terror Victims Litigation Project which represents US citizens harmed by terrorist actions in the Middle East. Lt. Col. (Ret.) Halevi is a retired career Intelligence officer who specialized in research on Palestinian and Islamic affairs. Between 2003-2004, Mr. Halevi served as senior advisor for policy planning in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [email protected]

[1] http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/757981--how-the-harperites-ambush...

[2] http://dkaken.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post.html

[3] http://www.btselem.org/English/Israeli_Civilians/20100224_Hamas_Report.asp

[4] http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/2971/1636844

[5] The article was also published at http://www.bitterlemons.org/previous/bl230209ed8.html

[6] http://web.archive.org/web/20071121222113/http://www.omedia.co.il/Show_A...

[7] http://www.btselem.org/english/press_releases/20100126.asp