Wednesday, November 06, 2019
Elder of ZiyonThe most hypocritical critics of the decision are the Palestinians themselves.
Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, said that this ruling "is just further evidence of the Israeli judiciary's involvement in silencing Israel's critics and covering up the escalating human rights violations against the Palestinian citizens."
She also said "our people and their leadership stand with Shakir and Human Rights Watch, and support human rights defenders and institutions working to end the culture of impunity and hold human rights violators accountable."
Isn't that something? Under PLO control, Christians are oppressed, gays are threatened, women are subject to honor killings, there is no freedom of assembly or freedom of the press, bloggers can be jailed - but the PLO supports human rights groups! Because they only rarely issue a token report about Palestinian violations of human rights and they spend nearly all of their time condemning Israel, something that the PLO can fully support!
Yet Ashrawi's pretense of support for human rights defenders is not the most hypocritical one from the PLO.
The PLO's Department of Human Rights and Civil Society issued a statement saying "a political decision with distinction that reflects the occupation government's settlement based on racism and defying international laws and norms as a government. It is an outlaw entity that practices crimes and violations against humanity."
Yes, the PLO has a Department of Human Rights and Civil Society. Based on its webpage, it has almost never looked at a single violation of human rights in Palestinian territory. The entire purpose of the department is to find ways of attacking Israel under the guise of "human rights." Members meet with counterparts from other countries and attend international meetings on topics like "Islamophobia" but do little else.
A real governmental human rights organization would look at internal civil rights issues and investigate any violations, The PLO's "human rights" department never does.
This is obvious when you look at who runs the department. The head, Ahmed Al-Tamimi - who is probably related to the Tamimi clan that includes terrorists like Ahlam Tamimi - is a member of the PLO's Executive Committee. The PLO is not known to be very self-critical.
Tamimi has made statements that clearly violate human rights norms, such as declaring that "the Tomb of the Patriarchs is a purely Islamic mosque, which is a Waqf property for Muslims alone" - meaning Jews should be banned from their second-holiest site.
The undersecretary of the department is Hossam Arafat, Arafat was (as of at least 2014) a member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) and the representative of PFLP-GC inside the territories.
The PFLP-GC is designated as a terror group by the US, UK, Canada and Japan.
His Facebook page includes "heroes of the PFLP=GC" carrying weapons:
Interestingly, his CV at the department's site erases all mention of his involvement with the PFLP-GC.
