The State of Israel absolutely
rejects all the false allegations that appear in the report that Amnesty is
expected to publish tomorrow.
The report consolidates and
recycles lies, inconsistencies, and unfounded assertions that originate from
well-known anti-Israeli hate organizations, all with the aim of reselling
damaged goods in new packaging. Repeating the same lies of hate organizations
over and over does not make the lies reality, but rather makes Amnesty
illegitimate.
In publishing this false report,
Amnesty UK uses double standards and demonization in order to delegitimize
Israel. These are the exact components from which modern antisemitism is made.
The report denies the State of
Israel’s right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people. Its extremist
language and distortion of historical context were designed to demonize Israel
and pour fuel onto the fire of antisemitism. A few days after International
Holocaust Remembrance Day, we once again learn that antisemitism is not just a
part of history, but unfortunately, is also part of today’s reality. Just last
weekend, Jews were attacked in London simply because they were Jewish.
Amnesty’s report effectively serves as a green light for the perpetrators and
others to harm not only Israel, but Jews around the world.
The State of Israel is a strong and
vibrant democracy that grants all its citizens equal rights, regardless of
religious or race. The State of Israel was established as the national home of
the Jewish people with broad international support, in light of the lessons of
the Holocaust. Amnesty criticizes the very existence of the State of Israel as
the nation state of the Jewish people, and effectively denies its right to
exist at all.
It is not surprising that this
report is being published by the British branch of Amnesty International, and
under the auspices of the organization’s Secretary General. This branch is
notorious for being corrupted by racism and xenophobia, and the organization’s
Secretary General has previously accused Israel – with no basis or evidence –
of murdering Arafat. It is not surprising that it took Amnesty eight years to
back down from this serious and baseless accusation.
We call on Amnesty to withdraw from
the report which is set to be published. This is a report which would be
preferable not to publish at all, given that it does not respect those who
truly value and are trying to project human rights.
The State of Israel will continue
to promote the values of democracy and inclusiveness, in whose light it was
established and continues to exist.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair
Lapid: “Amnesty was once an esteemed organization that we all respected. Today,
it is the exact opposite. It is not a human rights organization, but just
another radical organization that echoes propaganda with no serious
examination. Instead of seeking facts, Amnesty quotes lies spread by terrorist
organizations. Five minutes of serious factchecking were enough to know that
the facts that appeared in the report published this week were a delusion
divorced from reality. Israel is not perfect, but it is a democracy committed
to international law and open to scrutiny, with a free press and strong Supreme
Court.
“Amnesty does not call Syria
an ‘apartheid state’ – a country whose government murdered half a million of
its own citizens – nor Iran or any other corrupt and murderous regime in Africa
or Latin America. I hate to use the argument that if Israel were not a Jewish
state, nobody in Amnesty would dare argue against it, but in this case, there
is no other possibility.”