NGO Monitor: Why Is Human Rights Watch Posting Articles from a Palestinian Propagandist?
Yesterday (July 16), Human Rights Watch (HRW) posted a “Dispatch” about an Israeli military trial against Issa Amro and Farid al-Atrash for unlawful activity, including violence. The piece echoed the standard NGO themes about the trial, that prosecutors have no case (even though the evidence has not yet been made public) and that military courts “fall well short of any standards of justice.” As noted previously by NGO Monitor, the Amro and al-Atrash case has become a pretext for legal attacks against Israel.Khaled Abu Toameh: Abbas: Shut Up or I will Arrest You!
The article was written by a “consultant” named Khulood Badawi, the only article on HRW’s website attributed to this individual.
Who is Khulood Badawi?
She used to work for UN-OCHA – until February 2013, when she was fired for “a bogus post on Twitter alleging that a pictured Palestinian girl had been killed by the IDF during the 2012 shelling of Gaza.” (Honest Reporting noticed that the photo, tweeted under the handle “Long live Palestine,” was from 2006.)
Continuing her Palestinian propaganda role, Badawi moved to the PLO’s Negotiations Support Unit / Negotiations Affairs Department. There, she prepared materials for “Israeli target audiences.”Since May 2014, and despite being dismissed from UN-OCHA, she has been working with UN Office for Project Service (UNOPS). Her position, Communications Associate, is “part of a joint program” with the Canadian government, and she is responsible for – irony alert – developing “communication strategies” and “media material.”
And, apparently on the sidelines, she also writes propaganda for Human Rights Watch. Which isn’t surprising for HRW, which has an apparent policy of hiring anti-Israel BDS activists.
Critics say the Palestinian Authority's (PA) Cyber Crime Law, which permits the imprisonment of Palestinians for "liking" or sharing published material on the internet, paves the way for the emergence of a "police state" in PA-controlled territories in the West Bank. They also argue that the law aims to silence criticism of Abbas and the PA leadership.PMW: PMW exposes Abbas' latest deception: PA salaries to terrorists are not social welfare
"What is laughable is that this law carries penalties that are tougher than those imposed on thieves and sex offenders... the law, in its present form, is designed to limit the freedom of the media and punish people for simple matters." — Journalist in Ramallah.
This latest dictatorial move in the PA-controlled territories might also serve to remind the international community about the current readiness of the Palestinian leadership for statehood, and what such statehood would look like. In its current incarnation, that state would fit in just fine with its brutal Arab neighbors.
Contents: Click to view as PDF
Introduction:
- Facts and figures about PA payments to terrorists and their families
- PA claim: Salaries are social welfare
- The PA vows to continue paying salaries to terrorists
Part 1: 12 facts that refute the PA's claim that its payments to terrorists are social welfare
1. PA law defines the payments to prisoners as salaries
2. PA officials and prisoners' representatives deny that salaries are social welfare
3. Prisoners, and not their families, have complete control over the transfer of the salaries
4. Salaries rise based on years spent in prison and not based on financial need
5. Social welfare considerations add only small payments to the base salary
6. Salaries to prisoners are treated with the same status as salaries to civil servants.
7. Prisoners pay income tax on their salaries, like all government employees
8. Prisoners' salaries are higher than salaries of PA civil servants
9. Payments to families of terrorist "Martyrs" are higher than social welfare for those in need
10. Released prisoners continue to receive monthly salaries
11. PA officials openly declare that prisoners receive salaries because they are "heroes"
12. Released prisoner demanded undiminished salary because: "I personally killed Jews"
Part 2: The PA vows to continue paying salaries to terrorists
Introduction
Facts and figures about PA payments to terrorists and their families
The Palestinian Authority's "Law of the Prisoners" (2004) and subsequent PA regulations grant monthly salaries, from the day of arrest until the day of release, to all Palestinians arrested for security and terror offenses - acts defined in PA law as "struggle against the occupation." The salaries increase according to the amount of time the terrorist remains in prison, ranging from 1,400 shekels ($388) to 12,000 shekels ($3,324) per month. In 2016, the PA budgeted 488 million shekels ($135 million) for salaries to terrorist prisoners (numbering 6,300, July 2017)