Amnesty suspends 'Israel' branch for rejecting NGO's report
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According to the interim chair of the International Board of Amnesty International, "AI Israel has sought to publicly discredit Amnesty’s human rights research and positions."
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Relatives mourn over the body of a man killed in Israeli army airstrikes, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, the central Gaza Strip, on January 4, 2025. (AP)
On Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post reported that the International Board of Amnesty has decided to suspend Amnesty International's (AI) "Israel" membership in the global network for two years.
This action follows criticism from the Israeli branch regarding the international organization's recent reports on "Israel", as well as accusations that the Israeli branch consistently excluded Palestinian perspectives. These details were disclosed in leaked internal memorandums from Monday.
An email from the IB Amnesty International interim chair Tiumalu Lauvale Peter Fa’afiu mentioned on Monday that such action was taken in response to evidence of endemic anti-Palestinian racism within the Israeli AI branch, which "violated core human rights principles and Amnesty values, and evidence of AI "Israel's misalignment with and hostility to Amnesty positions."
According to the report, Fa’afiu claimed that Amnesty International in "Israel" had taken issue with the organization's reports, specifically questioning the findings of the 2022 report titled "Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity" and the 2023 report "You Feel Like You Are Subhuman: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza."
"AI Israel has sought to publicly discredit Amnesty’s human rights research and positions," said Fa’afiu.
"Its efforts to publicly undermine the findings and recommendations of Amnesty’s 2022 report on Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians and, more recently, Amnesty’s 2024 report on Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, have been deeply prejudicial to Amnesty’s human rights mission, threatening our credibility, integrity and operational coherence."
The details
As noted in the report, the "Israel" branch rejected AI's findings in December, which accused the occupation of committing genocide in Gaza. The Israeli branch argued that the allegation of genocide had not been "sufficiently substantiated."
The report mentioned that the "Israel" branch acknowledged the possibility of widespread violations of international law, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. It also noted that a minority of Amnesty "Israel’s" team believed there was sufficient evidence to conclude that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
Fa’afiu cited in the report an article by former Amnesty "Israel" members Amal Ourabi and Muhammad Abdel Kader, who wrote in a December 16 Mekomit opinion piece that there was an internal crisis in the branch due to the report.
According to the report, other Israeli members reportedly expressed harsh criticism for investigations of racism in the local branch while turning a blind eye to antisemitism within the movement. The whistleblowers related that Israeli branch members also alleged that AI leadership was politicizing human rights discourse and promoting anti-"Israel" policies.
Amnesty "Israel" reportedly threatened to shut down its branch if the global movement did not take action to address its concerns, adding that Ourabi and Kader resigned due to Amnesty "Israel" overlooking Israeli human rights violations.
