Yesterday I blogged about a Physicians for Human Rights report that accused Israel of pressuring Palestinians seeking medical treatment in Israel into becoming informers. Honest Reporting provided a link to Gerald Steinberg who questions the claims:
Similarly, in this publication, the “evidence†is entirely based on unverifiable claims, primarily from 11 interviewees from Gaza who allegedly asked Israel for permission to cross from the territory controlled by Hamas for medical care. Some of these Palestinians may have genuine medical needs, but others may be inventing stories that sell well in an environment that is inherently hostile to Israel. PHR-I has issued press releases declaring a Palestinian to be dead after Israel refused to allow him to cross the border, but he turned out to be alive. And in NGO reports on Palestinian suffering, Gazans who claimed to have been denied permission to study at universities in the United States were exposed as imposters. Unless the evidence can be checked be independently verified, it should be treated with the same skepticism used by professional journalists regarding other self-serving stories.
Steinberg describes this as the “halo effect,” where NGO’s are accorded a status of unimpeachable authorities even if their records are less that pristine. The media then takes the claims made by NGO’s at face value while doing precious little verification. After all, the NGO gave them the information they were looking for, indicting Israel for one crime or another.
The Augean Stables relates a relevant observation (h/t LGF):
A few friends of mine went to a party in Jerusalem that was primarily made up Anglophone reporters, people who work for NGOs and UN agencies. What amazed them was the pervasive sense of the people they met and spoke with that Israel was the greatest human rights violator in the world and that the dismantling of Israel would be a great step forward for global human rights.
Now the idiocy of this position, the suicidal nature of this strategy to advance human rights is nothing short of breathtaking. Take Israel out of the Middle East and the region becomes nothing but Hama rules… especially when the nastiest people — those who want to destroy Israel — would feel empowered by such a victory. But try and tell that to people who are smart enough to believe they can’t be wrong, and credulous enough to believe the demopaths who pull their chains on a daily basis. And as a result, they are prime targets for a hate campaign against Israel.
(emphasis mine)
One of LGF’s commenters wrote:
I wonder why they didn’t hold their little cocktail party in downtown Gaza? They could hold it in a place right next to their hotels or apartments, because they stay in Gaza, right? Surely they don’t stay in Israel? Surely they don’t feel safe in the “greatest human rights violator’s” territory?
It’s not just Pysicians for Human Rights, it’s the whole mess of NGO’s. (Remember Marc Garlasco?) The NGO’s despite their deeply held biases against Israel (after all they have to justify their existence) get uncritical reception from the media, while most other organizations would receive at least some perfunctory scrutiny.
It’s one of the engines that drives media bias against Israel.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
