Human Rights Watch has rejected the distinction between open and closed societies that prevents authoritarian regimes from claiming moral equivalence with democratic states, says its former chairman, in a devastating indictment.
The Middle East in particular “is populated by authoritarian regimes with appalling human rights records,” writes Robert L. Bernstein, the group’s chairman from 1978 to 1998. Yet the rights watchdog “has written far more condemnations of Israel for violations of international law than of any other country in the region.”
Israel, with a population of 7.4 million, is home to at least 80 human rights organizations, a vibrant free press, a democratically elected government, a judiciary that frequently rules against the government, a politically active academia, multiple political parties and, judging by the amount of news coverage, probably more journalists per capita than any other country in the world — many of whom are there expressly to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Only by returning to its founding mission and the spirit of humility that animated it can Human Rights Watch resurrect itself as a moral force in the Middle East and throughout the world,” he concludes.
