Video Of The Week - Security
Technology Tracks Coronavirus- https://tinyurl.com/urvgr5m
From JNS, By Becca Wertman
For the full article go to - https://tinyurl.com/wle98nj
The cynical exploitation of a global health crisis by
so-called human-rights organizations sends a clear message: These groups aren’t
about justice and morality.
·
For anti-Israel
advocacy non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which constantly attempt to
demonize and delegitimize the Jewish state, the COVID-19 pandemic’s domination
of the global news cycle poses a significant challenge—the world now has real
problems to deal with.
Nevertheless, some
NGOs have a solution. Namely, they have decided to link their agendas to
COVID-19. This is consistent with previous attempts by NGOs to capitalize on
the prevailing public discourse, such as manipulating narratives of climate
change and LGBTQ rights as part of their anti-Israel campaigns.
Take, for instance,
the offensive and anti-Semitic sentiment expressed in a tweet by Sarah Leah
Whitson, the former head of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East department and now
with the Quincy Institute. Not for the first time, Whitson deployed classic
anti-Semitic tropes, in this case the blood libel.
In response to a cynical tweet that “6 million Jewish [sic] Israelis” will now
understand life under “occupation” due to virus-related restrictions, Whitson
lamented that it was “such a tiny taste. Missing a tablespoon of blood.”
To be sure, not all
NGOs have gone that far. Some have stuck to their standard anti-Israel
nonsense. One common theme is the “occupation,” where the COVID-19 virus has
been appended to standard anti-occupation rhetoric and campaigns that, for some
obsessed NGOs and activists, are still the most pressing global concerns. Of
course, their complaints about Israeli policy in the West Bank do not seriously
grapple with whether it will effectively curb the spread of disease, but rather
presume Israel must be acting in bad faith, because “occupation.”
On March 10, for
example, Students for Justice in
Palestine at the University of Maryland hosted an event
with the title, “Corona and Countering the Occupation.” According to the poster
advertising the event, the issues to be discussed included “How is corona being
handled in Palestine?” “How does occupation worsen the situation?” and “What is
the best way to counter the occupation.”
Another example is a
tweet by the American fringe group IfNotNow, claiming
that “Demolishing Palestinian homes will worsen the
coronavirus spread. It was already inhumane to displace people, now it’s also
an urgent matter of public health. The Israeli army must stop demolishing homes
and focus on the health and wellness of all Israelis and Palestinians.”
A second theme is
“Blame Israel for Gaza.” For the 15 years since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza,
NGOs continue to attribute a “humanitarian crisis” to Israel, based on a unique
standard of international law applied to Israel alone. NGOs deny Hamas and other
actors agency for diverting resources from public infrastructure and services
to weapons, tunnels and terrorism. In the current context, NGOs have been using
COVID-19 as an excuse to condemn legitimate anti-terrorism policies and to
preemptively blame Israel for an outbreak in Gaza.
For example, on
March 15, Ken Roth, Human Rights Watch’s Israel-obsessed executive
director, tweeted, “The
coronavirus will test the wisdom of Israel’s policies for crippling the economy
and health systems of Gaza and the West Bank. As the occupying power (for Gaza,
too, given Israel’s severe restrictions on movement), Israel is responsible for
health care.” The Israeli NGO Gisha similarly
published an article, “Crossings update: Israel to impose
extensive travel restrictions at Erez Crossing over coronavirus concerns,”
belittling Israel’s policy of restricting access to its borders, including
Gaza’s, to curb the spread of the virus.
Palestinian
terror-linked organizations are also exploiting the public health crisis for
their anti-Israel advocacy. For instance, Samidoun, a group
with noted ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
terrorist group, posted an article on
its website, “Israeli apartheid, COVID-19 and Palestinian prisoners: Freedom
now!” The NGO claims, “Palestinian prisoners are continuing their struggle to
confront Israel’s apartheid COVID-19 response that poses a threat to
Palestinian prisoners and, indeed, all Palestinians. No Palestinian prisoners
have yet been diagnosed with coronavirus, but their conditions of confinement
present a serious concern.”
Addameer, another PFLP-tied
group, has also shared articles with
sentiments such as, “at the moment, while the world is suffering from the
pandemic, COVID-19, Palestinian prisoners are still suffering medical
negligence.”
This cynical
exploitation of a global health crisis by so-called human-rights organizations
should therefore send a clear message: In times of emergency, expect the
regular drumbeat of anti-Israel propaganda from organizations claiming to
espouse justice and morality.
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