Exposed: Amnesty International’s Deceptive Press
Release
Honest Reporting - BY EMANUEL MILLER JULY 30, 2019 https://tinyurl.com/y37uz7ow
‘Famous
Actress cancels play to highlight suffering of Palestinians.’
It’s a
compelling story, one sure to be picked up by journalists, but beyond the usual
anti-Israel agitprop, it’s a tale of deception and dishonesty that should leave
Amnesty International shamefaced.
A show
called “Obliterated,” sponsored by the prominent human rights organization, was
said to have been due to be performed exactly one year after the destruction of
a Gaza theater.
In fact,
the play was never due to have been performed at all — the whole thing was a PR
stunt.
In an
email sent to people who had signed up for what was advertised as a free,
one-night only performance, playwright Ahmed Masoud and actress Maxine Peake
openly admitted to the devious trick: “There was never a play or a show. I
didn’t write it and Maxine never rehearsed it.” This was confirmed when an
Amnesty International UK press officer told HonestReporting, “they have cancelled it, and intended to cancel it.”
Despite
openly admitting to registrants that the play was never written, a press release circulated
by Amnesty International to announce the show was being pulled totally
neglected to acknowledge that the cancellation was premeditated. The press
release, seen by countless journalists, failed to mention that the play
was never written, and that from the very outset, no performance was actually
planned. Consequently, multiple news outlets picked up on the press
release and failed to report the full story.
The episode should
act as a cautionary tale to journalists not to rely on press releases for more
than one reason.
The stunt was designed
to draw attention to the first anniversary of the destruction of the al-Mishal
Cultural Center in Gaza. In its press release, Amnesty wrote:
The scheduled
performance – which is fully booked – would have marked exactly one year since
the destruction by an Israeli airstrike of the Mishal Cultural
Centre last year, the only working theatre in Gaza which housed numerous
arts projects in the beleaguered Palestinian territory.
That’s one way to
describe the theater. A more objective statement would have recognized that the
theater was believed to have served as a command and
control center for the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza in its
ongoing hostilities against Israel.
For a
self-described human rights organization, it’s hard to understand how a
commitment to human rights is being served when Amnesty allows itself to be
used as cover for Hamas’ human shields policy, in which the terror group embeds
itself in civilian infrastructure in order to conceal its presence and avert
being struck, even after being discovered. (Significantly, under international
law, the responsibility for any civilian casualties and collateral damage
incurred in the event of a military strike on such a military installment would
fall firmly on Hamas’ shoulders.)
None of
this seems to interest Amnesty International UK, whose media department failed
to mention the controversy entirely.
When
human rights organizations wage media campaigns to gain public sympathy while
possibly providing cover for terror organizations committing war crimes, the
cause of human rights is being shamelessly, deceitfully used for political
ends.
To be
clear, HonestReporting has no problem with PR stunts. They are a reality in the
media world, are often ingenious, entertaining and sometimes thought-provoking,
We do, however, have a problem with NGOs and activists conning journalists by
pretending that their actions are not a PR stunt at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment