Overkill: NGOs and Media Coverage

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Overkill NGOs and Media Coverage of the
Israel-Lebanon Conflict Gerald Steinberg NGO
Monitor www.ngo-monitor.org
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NGO Statements on Israel July 12-August 15
www.ngo-monitor.org
Human Rights Watch 24 Amnesty
International 18 Christian Aid 8
B'Tselem - 1 EMHRN 2 International
Commission of Jurists - 2 EuroMed 1 KAIROS
1 Medecins Sans Frontieres - 3 Oxfam
9 MIFTAH 6 Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA) -
2 Physicians for Human Rights - Israel
1 International Federation of Human Rights
Leagues (FIDH) 4 (Does not include opeds,
interviews, letters written by NGO
officials)
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NGOs provided constant information feed to news
services

• Common themes in the NGO statements include
• Disproportionate force without a definition
  of proportionate
• Judgments regarding "military targets" without
  military expertise
• Condemnation of Israel's targeting of bridges,
• major roads and the Beirut Airport as
• "collective punishment."

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Themes in NGO statements cont

• Political lobbying, letters to politicians
  calling for sanctions against Israel.
• Little mention that Hezbollah's military
  positions in civilian areas (human shields) is a
  war crime.
• Few references to the role of Iran and Syria and
• other context-related details.
• Few NGOs call for the release of the two
• abducted Israeli soldiers.

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Fatal Strikes Israels Indiscriminate Attacks
Against Civilians in Lebanon
August 2006   Volume 18, No. 3(E)
Related MaterialAlso Available               
             Fatal Strikes           Download
Summary and Recommendations in FrenchDownload
Summary and Recommendations in Hebrew
            
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• Deliberate destruction or "collateral damage"?
  Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure
• AI Index MDE 18/007/2006      23 August 2006
• 48 hours not enough as war crimes continue
• AI Index MDE 02/002/2006 31 July 2006

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NGOs as military experts
The IDF said it targeted two buildings that
contained weapons. But Human Rights Watch
concluded the opposite.
Said Marc Garlasco, the senior military analyst
at Human Rights Watch, . Cluster Bombs were
completely ineffective at attacking Hezbollah
with these weapons, but the civilian harm is
enormous.
Amnesty International has accused Israel of
committing war crimes by deliberately targeting
areas of no apparent strategic importance"
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• NGOs as Interpreters of international law (war
  crimes, indiscriminate or disproportionate use of
  force, etc.)

Amnesty International on Wednesday accused Israel
of war crimes, saying it broke international law
by deliberately destroying Lebanon's civilian
infrastructure during its recent war with
Hezbollah guerrillas.
The Guardian ..Yesterday's attack on the
southern Lebanese town of Qana, which rights
group Human Rights Watch today labelled a war
crime.
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• HRWs Questions and Answers on Hostilities
  Between Israel and Hezbollah
• Updated August 02, 2006
• IDF actions "open the door to deliberately
  attacking civilians and civilian objects
  themselves - in short to terrorism,"
• Israel's "destruction seems aimed more
  at...preventing the civilian population from
  fleeing the fighting and seeking safety,"

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• Stop Killing Civilians 25 Jul 2006
• Israel's response is not proportional."
• "The damage to infrastructure, homes and medical
  establishments is considered to be a grave
  violation of international law and the
  international humanitarian law."

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NGOs as fact providers

• What are the NGOs sources? (eyewitnesses
• reliable?)
• BBC
• Oxfam's Shaista Aziz, in Beirut, said "After 33
  days of war, large parts have been destroyed and
  devastated.
• CAMERA Human Rights Watch An Exchange,
  September 22, 2006

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• Peter Bouckaert, HRWs Emergencies Director, For
  Israel, Innocent Civilians are Fair Game,
  International Herald Tribune, August 3, 2006 and
  White flags, not a legitimate target, July 31,
  2006

Israel is prefabricating excuses to justify
killing civilians. According to Bouckaert,
Israel has hit civilian homes and cars in the
southern border zone . . with no evidence of any
military objective, ignoring the plethora of
evidence that Hezbollah hid weapons and fighters
in civilian areas. Bouckaert gave numerous media
interviews with similar phrases and messages
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www.ngo-monitor.org
Sept 1 2006 Rosa Brooks Criticize Israel?
You're an Anti-Semite! How can we have a real
discussion about Mideast peace if speaking
honestly about Israel is out of bounds?
Kenneth Roth whose father fled Nazi Germany
is executive director of Human Rights Watch,
America's largest and most respected human rights
organization. In July, after the Israeli
offensive in Lebanon began, Human Rights Watch
did the same thing it has done in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Chechnya, It sent researchers to
monitor the conflict and report on any abuses
committed by either side. (Disclosure I have
worked in the past as a paid consultant for the
group.)
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www.ngo-monitor.org
Diversionary Strike On a Rights Group, Kathleen
Peratis, August 30, 2006
the report's critics seem to believe that Israel
should be exempted from the rules of war. Abe
Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, who has
accused Human Rights Watch of "immorality at the
highest level,..
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USE OF LEGAL RHETORIC

• Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
• collective punishment and are a serious
  violation of international law."
• systematically destroying its infrastructure.
  collectively punish a whole people, including
  arbitrary killing... indiscriminate targeting and
  the scale and ferocity of the violence, ,
  constitute an exceptional grave violation of the
  Geneva Conventions.
• Euromed Non-Governmental Platform (an NGO network
  working with the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership)
• "Nothing could justify the collective punishment
  inflicted to the Palestinian people or the
  destruction of the Beirut airport's tracks or
  bridges."
• International Commission of Jurists (Geneva)
• "The bombing of undefended towns, villages and
  dwellings that are not military
  objectives...constitute war crimes"

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• Days of dread and despair long-lived by the
  Lebanese during the war seem to have returned."
• "The stability of the entire region is under
  threat as Israel responds
• Israels "constant attack and ... the
  beginnings of a potential humanitarian crisis."
• The Prime Minister himself telephoned Christian
  Aid director, Dr Daleep Mukarji, at the weekend
  to ask for his thoughts on resolving the Middle
  East crisis."

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• Balance belated and not comprehensive

Hezbollah Hit Israel with Cluster Munitions
During Conflict (Jerusalem, October 19,
2006) Hezbollah Needs to Answer, By SarahLeah
Whitson, Published in Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Oct 5,
2006 Sarah Leah Whitson admitted that their
research found that on a number of occasions
Hezbollah unjustifiably endangered Lebanese
civilians by storing weapons in civilian homes,
firing rockets from populated areas, and
allowing its fighters to operate from civilian
homes. Hezbollah also used children as active
combatants, another violation of the law. 14
September, 2006 Under fire Hizbullahs attacks
on northern Israel
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Halo effect

• Blinds the media to the credibility of NGOs as
  sources
• No attempt to assess the accuracy and credibility
  of the stories
• Reliance on NGOs for
• Facts
• Military expertise and
• Definitions and application of international
  law.

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Government officials (MFA, Prime Ministers
office) generally do not respond to NGO
reportsStrong tendency to freeze, (or
apologize) Qana 48 hour partial cease fire
IDF slow, providing limited information. No
individual responsible for policy on NGO claims
ISRAEL GOVERNMENT RESPONSE?
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www.ngo-monitor.org
Watching The Watchers NGO MONITOR
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www.ngo-monitor.org
NGO SUPERPOWERS Annual budgets (2005)
Human Rights Watch                             
56 million  Amnesty International (23.7
million)  43 million   Christian Aid   
(58.5 million)  90 million Oxfam  
368 million  MSF/ Doctors Without (366
million) 468 million Borders
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THE POLITICAL POWER OF NGOs AND THE HALO EFFECT
www.ngo-monitor.org

• Non-Governmental Organizations are powerful
  political actors

• NGOs define human rights, war crimes,
  violations of international law, etc.

• NGOs are not subject to accountability or
  checks and balances

• NGOs have no systematic basis for determining
  the boundary between legitimate criticism and
  demonization

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www.ngo-monitor.org
NGOs
Durban
Media
Jenin
UNHCR
UN and Diplomats
UNGA and ICJ
Boycott and Divestment
Academia
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www.ngo-monitor.org
NGO FORUM DURBAN SEPTEMBER 2001
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Examining NGO Credibility
www.ngo-monitor.org

• Most global NGOs (Amnesty, HRW) have essentially
  no independent research capability.

• They rely on Palestinian eyewitness testimony
  and journalists who use the same sources.

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www.ngo-monitor.org
NGO Credibility
Amnesty International has reported that Israeli
soldiers deliberately aim at Palestinian
children. When asked to document that they
couldn't come up with a single case. Human
Rights Watch has made up stories that have had no
corroboration whatsoever. .. I spoke with
Donatella Rovera, who is AI's researcher and
asked her to provide the data Rovera
acknowledged that the report was based on
anecdotal information, from Palestinian NGOs.
It is impossible for any outside researcher to
replicate AI's study and to confirm or disconfirm
its conclusions. - Prof. Alan Dershowitz
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NGOs and the Hizbollah War - July 2006

• Accusations of "disproportionate force" by
  Israel, with no explanation of proportionality in
  response to Hezbollah terror
• Condemnation of Israel's targeting of bridges,
  major roads and the Beirut Airport as "collective
  punishment," despite the clear military rationale
  to prevent the re-supply of arms from Syria and
  Iran.
• No mention that Hizbollah's concrete reinforced
  military headquarters are located under buildings
  in southern Beirut, (a war crime, as defined by
  Protocol I (1977) to the Geneva Convention,
  article 51(7), relating to human shields.) No NGO
  explores the human rights implications of
  Hezbollah's use of human shields.
• Few NGOs call for the release of the two abducted
  Israeli soldiers

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www.ngo-monitor.org
RESEARCHING NGO AGENDAS HRW IN THE MIDDLE EAST
2004
Data based on the number and relative weight of
documents produced in 2004, compared to other
countries in the Middle East, and excluding
Iraq-related documents, of which actually
pertained to US policy.
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www.ngo-monitor.org
CAPITAL RESEARCH CENTER STUDY OF AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL

• AI has adopted double standards on human
  rightsand propaganda against America and
  Israel. 
• http//www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pubs.asp?ID5
  11

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HRWs use of Durban Rhetoric- 2005.

• In HRW Middle East publications, Israel was the
  only country charged with "collective punishment"
  and "war crimes".
• Israel charged with "grave" and /or "serious"
  human rights "violations" and/or "abuses" 32
  times Egypt 22 all other countries fewer than
  10.

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www.ngo-monitor.org
WHO SETS THE AGENDA? REPORTS ON ISRAEL/PA AND
SUDAN SEPTEMBER 2000- 2004