On Jun 8, 2010, at 10:25 AM, Louis Proyect wrote: > http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/guest-post-the-philanthropic-zionist-complex/
This piece isn't fair to Human Rights Watch. Whatever their past - which is pretty questionable - the current head of their Middle East section is the excellent Sarah Leah Whitson, a strong supporter of Palestinian rights who brought in Norman Finkelstein to talk to the group. And she hired Joe Stork, formerly of MERIP. She's gotten some heat from HRW's founder, Robert Bernstein, but she's succeeded in resisting him, and HRW has done very good stuff on Gaza. They've pissed off The New Republic: http://www.tnr.com/article/minority-report-2?page=0,2 > Whether or not Whitson has done so, she clearly favors a tough > approach toward the Jewish state. She has argued that, far from > being too harsh toward Israel, HRW is actually too lenient. > “[B]elieve me,” she wrote in an e-mail to a MENA advisory committee > member, “on israel in particular, we are overly cautious and > extremely kid-gloved because of the harassment we endure.” Less > definitive—but still arguably revealing—evidence about Whitson’s > politics can be found in her opinion of Norman Finkelstein, the > activist and avowed Hezbollah supporter who has likened Israel to > Nazi Germany. The two became acquainted years ago, and she brought > him to HRW to discuss his 2005 book Beyond Chutzpah. (“He had a very > mixed reception,” she remembers. “I think people did not find his > style particularly persuasive.”) In late 2006, when Finkelstein > launched a letter-writing campaign demanding that HRW officials > apologize for a press release critical of Palestinian officials > (which they eventually did), one HRW observer e-mailed Whitson to > share thoughts on Finkelstein’s over-the-top rhetoric. Whitson > replied: “I agree w/ u that norm undermines himself and his cause w/ > the language he uses, and his anger sometimes gets the better of him > and his brilliant mind and generous spirit. I continue to have > tremendous respect and admiration for him, because as you probably > know, making Israeli abuses the focus of one’s life work is a > thankless but courageous task that may well end up leaving all of us > quite bitter.” > > As Bernstein and his allies saw it, Whitson and others in MENA > consistently ignored the context of Israeli actions—context that > might have created a more accurate picture. That was the overriding > complaint in a letter Edith Everett wrote to HRW in June 2008, > outlining her dissatisfaction with the way the organization was > treating Israel. HRW had repeatedly called for Israel to lift its > blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza. Everett pointed out that “the > original contravention of human rights lies with Hamas and these > terrorist organizations and if they were to stop their unprovoked > attacks on Israeli civilians there would be no restrictions on the > flow of goods into Gaza.” > > That month, Bernstein made a presentation at a meeting of the > executive committee of HRW’s board. After asking HRW staffers to > leave the room, he told the assembled something they already knew— > that he had concerns about MENA’s Israel work—and something they did > not: “I told them, from then on, they couldn’t assume that I would > remain silent to the public.” > > Ken Roth was absent from the meeting—his daughter was graduating > from high school that day—but he was furious when he found out. He > immediately e-mailed Bernstein’s son Bill, a classmate from Brown, > lamenting how unfortunate he found it that a man who had spent his > life championing human rights had become an apologist for Israel. He > appealed to the younger Bernstein to intervene, warning that his > father would do great harm to the organization and to his own > reputation. > > Not everyone at HRW, however, was eager to keep Bernstein in the > fold. His persistent questions had become a never-ending source of > annoyance to Whitson. “It just came to this point where we would > have countless meetings with him explaining things over and over,” > Whitson says. “And then, he would just ask the same question as if > you’d never had the conversation before. And you’re like, ‘But did > you actually read the report? Did you actually see what it said? > Because it answers your question, and we’ve discussed this, like, > eighteen times.’” Her attitude toward Bernstein’s threat was one of > indifference. “You’re like, ‘OK, just go public and get it over > with.’” > > _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
