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Friday, September 02, 2011

Will Amnesty accuse Palmer of a "whitewash"?

A day after Israel released the Turkel Report on the 2010 flotilla incident, Amnesty International called it a "whitewash" - before they even read the report.

A few days later, they made that accusation clearer, writing a report officially calling the Turkel report a "whitewash." This is not only them disagreeing with the conclusions; it is Amnesty impugning the objectivity and methodology of the Turkel Commission, with no evidence on their part.

Among their charges of Turkel:

The Commission’s failure to account for the deaths reinforces the view that the Israeli authorities are unwilling or incapable of delivering accountability for abuses of international law committed by Israeli forces.

...Amnesty International also contests the Commission’s findings that the purpose of Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza was “primarily a military-security one”....The naval blockade must be assessed in the context of the closure policy implemented by the Israeli government since June 2007 – a siege that constitutes collective punishment and violates the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Finally, Amnesty International rejects the Turkel Commission’s conclusion that the closure policy is lawful.
All of these points are considered and repudiated in the Palmer report.

Will Amnesty call Palmer a "whitewash" as well?  Will they claim that the Zionist lobby infiltrated the UN? Will they continue to pretend that somehow the biased UNHRC report is fair and Palmer is not? Or will they apologize to the Turkel Commission for being largely vindicated by Palmer?