Re: Human Rights Watch Military Analyst, a Nazi?!

TimK — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:22:00 -0700

Even if true, I think you’re making my point for me, DB, that rather than addressing the substance of the report, you’re taking the emotional shortcut—now painting Richard Silverstein with a broad brush. (That’ll teach him to f*** with us!) So whether it was Omar Ceren or Avigdor Lieberman who originally came up with the idea, which one originally said it, and whether the other repeated it… all pretty meaningless now.

I trust HRW to be an objective reporter, in general, on human rights, because human rights is their raison d’être. I see no reason why they should care about Israel or the PLO or the US or any country or political organization above any other. Furthermore, I know that governments and quasi-governments always distort military reports to make themselves look better and their so-called enemies look worse. (And have done so for as long as governments have waged war.) And your spitting out a bunch of names and unsubstantiated accusations (without so much as a citation), that doesn’t change my opinion. Nor should it.

In any case, the point remains that the situation itself is way more complicated than that. Emotional frenzy shortcut.

-TimK

P.S. The Omri Ceren piece is at http://www.mererhetoric.com/archives/11275875.html

Re: Human Rights Watch Military Analyst, a Nazi?!

DB — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:48:51 -0700

Well, that will teach you to trust Richard Silverstein. As you can easily look up for yourself, the source of the story about Garlasco’s “hobby” was blogger Omri Ceren at Mere Rhetoric, not the Israeli foreign ministry.

Garlasco’s Nazi obsession joins HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson’s pre-HRW history of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activism, and deputy director Joe Stork’s pre-HRW 20 year plus history of intense hostility to Israel, in raising the question as to why anyone should trust HRW to be an objective investigator of Israel’s human rights practices. Surely, an organization trying to be “objective” could find folks interested in human rights who have not taken public sides in the conflict and don’t have creepy Nazi-related hobbies.

The Conscience of Abe’s Turn - Marc Garlasco - Comments

Re: Human Rights Watch Military Analyst, a Nazi?!

Re: Human Rights Watch Military Analyst, a Nazi?!