What’s Wrong with Amnesty International’s Charge of Israeli ‘Genocide’? Everything.

Amnesty International’s favorite whipping-boy is the state of Israel. China, Russia, North Korea, Iran — none of these nightmare regimes has been given as much attention, and had condemnation heaped upon in, by Amnesty International, as has the tiny and permanently embattled state of Israel.

Here is a dignified riposte to Amnesty’s grotesque charges: “Amnesty International cherry-picked incidents to fit its predetermined narrative – editorial,” Jerusalem Post, December 6, 2024:

On Wednesday, Amnesty International released a report accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza – a term so gravely heavy with historical weight that it should never be invoked lightly. By Thursday, even Amnesty International’s own Israeli branch had rejected the findings, stating that the evidence “had not been sufficiently substantiated.”

This rare internal dissent underscores that the report is less of a fact-based investigation than a politically motivated indictment.

Let’s be clear: Genocide is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, requiring proof of intent to destroy a people. Amnesty’s report doesn’t even come close. Instead, it relies on numbers provided by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, which Amnesty Monitor criticized for failing to “distinguish between civilians and combatants.”

According to Amnesty, some 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict – a number that strains credulity and is presented without transparency or critical verification.

But even if we were to accept the figure of “42,000 Palestinians killed,” we must keep in mind that almost half of that number — 19,000 — were not civilians, but, according to the IDF, Hamas combatants. In addition, prior to the Gaza war, about 800 people died in the Strip each month from diseases and accidents. Assuming that the same number have continued to die for such reasons, in the last 14 months of war, 11,200 people died in Gaza from non-combat-related causes. Finally, according to Human Rights Watch, hardly a defender of Israel, between 10 and 20 percent of the rockets launched toward Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have fallen short, and are known to have killed Gazans. No one knows how many Gazans are killed by those misfired rockets, but think only of the PIJ rocket that fell inside the Strip, and landed at the parking lot next to the Al-Ahli Hospital, killing at least 50 Gazans. A low estimate of such deaths would be 300 Gazans killed by Hamas and PIJ misfiring rockets. When we tote up the numbers, it is not “42,000” Palestinians killed by the IDF, but far fewer. Here is the calculation: 42,000 total deaths, from which we must subtract 19,000 Hamas combatants, 11,200 non-combat-related deaths, and 300 deaths from misfired rockets, which gives us the figure of only 11,500 Palestinian civilians (42,000-19,000-11,200-300=11,500). Keep that number in mind.

Amnesty cherry-picks incidents to fit its predetermined narrative. Out of thousands of airstrikes conducted in Gaza, the report examines just 15, alleging civilian casualties with no military justification. It disregards Hamas’s deliberate use of civilian infrastructure – homes, schools, and hospitals – as shields for its operations. The IDF, in contrast, issued evacuation warnings and facilitated the transfer of “1.1 million tons of aid into Gaza” while establishing humanitarian corridors.

Yet these efforts are conveniently ignored by Amnesty, as they undermine the NGO’s claim of “genocidal intent.”…

If the IDF were intending to commit genocide, it would hardly have delivered 1.1 million tons of humanitarian aid — food and medicines — to Gaza. If it were intending to commit genocide, it would not have engaged in a massive and unprecedented campaign to warn Gazans away from areas or buildings that were soon to be targeted. By this March, the IDF had already dropped nine million leaflets, sent fifteen million text messages, and made sixteen million robocalls, all in order to minimize civilian casualties. What kind of “intent to commit genocide” is that? British Colonel Richard Kemp, who participated in six campaigns, and commanded the British forces in Afghanistan, has described the IDF as “the most moral army in the world,” and West Point Professor John Spencer has written that “Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any military in history.” Does that sound like IDF has the “intent to commit genocide”?

Why has Amnesty International not produced a similar report on Hamas’ atrocities, clearly “genocidal in intent,” including the rape, torture, mutilation, and murder of 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023? Why has it said nothing about Hamas’ longstanding practice of hiding its weapons, and embedding its fighters, in civilian buildings, including schools, hospitals, mosques, and apartment buildings?

The editorial board of the Jerusalem Post has provided a devastating riposte to the nonsense and lies in the Amnesty International report on Israel’s so-called “genocide.” Now it’s your turn, Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. Please respond to the Post. We’ll wait right here for your answer.