Weekend long read

1) At the BESA Center Prof. Gerald Steinberg and Maayan Rockland document ‘Palestinian Activists at Human Rights Watch’.

“In theory, the officials, researchers, and analysts working in the area of human rights are committed to unbiased, politically neutral reporting. In practice, these words often stand in sharp contrast to the activities and biased agendas of these institutions. This bias is characteristic of many major non-governmental organizations (NGOs) claiming human rights agendas. A prime example is Human Rights Watch, which exhibits a fundamental and consistent bias against Israel.”

2) Writing at the Jerusalem Post, Dr Jonathan Spyer tells the full story of the Entebbe hijackers.

“The Entebbe Raid of July 4, 1976, is remembered as a high point of counter-terror warfare in general, and of the Israeli contribution to that field in particular. The raid involved astonishing audacity, precise and pinpoint intelligence, great courage and professional military skills of the highest order. It remains a subject of study at military institutes across the world.

Less attention has been paid to the precise nature of the enemy that the IDF’s Sayeret Matkal and other forces confronted that night at the Ugandan airport. This deserves to be rectified.”

3) The CST has published its Antisemitic Incidents Report for the first half of 2020.

“Today CST has published its Antisemitic Incidents Report for January-June 2020, which shows that 789 antisemitic incidents were recorded by CST across the UK in the first six months of this year. This is a 13 per cent fall from the 911 incidents recorded in the first half of 2019, but is still the third-highest number of incidents CST has ever recorded in the January to June period of any year. CST recorded 810 antisemitic incidents in the first half of 2018, 786 from January to June 2017, and 608 in the first six months of 2016. […]

The pandemic […] influenced the way antisemitism manifested during this period. In the first half of 2020, CST received ten reports of educational or religious online events being hijacked with antisemitic content or behaviour. CST also recorded 26 incidents that contained antisemitic rhetoric alongside references to the pandemic, such as conspiracy theories accusing Jews of inventing the Coronavirus ‘hoax’, or of creating and spreading COVID-19 itself, for various malevolent and financial purposes; or simply wishing that Jewish people catch the virus and die.”

4) The ITIC documents Palestinian reactions concerning the case they brought to the ICC.

“On July 17, 2020, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague began its summer recess of three weeks without issuing a decision as to the ICC’s authority to initiate an investigation of Israel’s so-called “war crimes.” Senior Palestinian figures were disappointed by the lack of a decision. The PA foreign minister represented the delay as the ICC’s surrender to American and Israeli pressure, adding that the ICC has sufficient proof to initiate an investigation of the settlements and Israel’s [alleged] “aggression” in the Gaza Strip.”