An anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias has become entrenched in the policies of the Amnesty International rights organization, whose activities are showing an overlap with the BDS movement to isolate Israel internationally, a study by researcher and expert in anti-Semitism David Collier that was commissioned by the UK-based Jewish Human Rights Watch group finds.
According to Collier's report, titled "Spotlight on Amnesty International: From bias to obsession," Palestinian activists with ties to the Palestinian Authority and who openly support terrorist entities have taken control of some branches of Amnesty.
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The study will be submitted to British law enforcement agencies for review to ascertain whether any of Amnesty's activities contravene British law.
Amnesty is headquartered in London. The organization, founded in 1961 to defend human rights around the world, claims that it currently has 7 million members, making it the largest civil society organization in the world.
Collier's report exposes a strong anti-Israel bias among many of the organization's employees, including several dozen who hold key positions. According to his study, Amnesty employs people who are avowed supporters of terrorism, and their reports are used in the information Amnesty publishes, which strongly influences public opinion.
Collier found an official advisor to Amnesty who tweeted messages of support for a terrorist group and advised terrorists to hide information about the true nature of their activities in order to "protect the resistance." The report also says that Amnesty has recruited employees whom it knew were activists on behalf of a specific political goal, which violates the principles of neutrality that are supposed to form the basis of the organization's activity.
"As Amnesty displays a symbiotic relationship with BDS, it is fair to conclude that elements within Amnesty International actively seek to promote the destruction of the Jewish state. Because there is a religious aspect to some of Amnesty's obsession, we conclude that the cumulative effect of the organization's unnatural hostility towards Israel is anti-Semitic," the report says.
Collier's report details 21 specific instances in which senior Amnesty employees' social media accounts showed hostility toward Israel, including Amnesty advisors based in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, as well as position-holders at the organization's London headquarters.
One example is Saleh Hijazi, Deputy Regional Director for Amnesty Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Hijazi hails from Ramallah and was a well-known anti-Israeli activist prior to joining Amnesty. He is also a member of the Shabaka Palestinian Policy Network, which Collier describes as an "explicitly pro-Palestinian think tank. Shabaka consistently accuses Israel of apartheid, genocide, and ethnic cleansing.
"It is perhaps no coincidence that Hijazi's rise in Amnesty has coincided with a further slide of the organization into raw BDS territory with their Airbnb and Trip Advisor campaigns," the report says.
According to the reports, of the 152 tweets Hijazi sent out over the course of a year, only four were unrelated to the Israeli-Arab conflict, which Collier calls "an obsession rate of 97%" – despite the fact that Hijazi's job at Amnesty means he covers a region that includes Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen.
Collier's research concludes with the statement: "Given the findings it is fair to conclude that Amnesty International have declared open 'war' on Israel. It has turned its entire arsenal onto the Jewish state. The obsession is clearly driven by an unnatural bias, deep hostility and anti-Semitism."
Amnesty International responded to Israel Hayom's request for a response with the statement: "We have not seen this report and cannot provide a comment on these allegations. Amnesty International is an independent and impartial organization that adheres to the highest research standards in all its work. Any research outputs produced by Amnesty International are subjected to a rigorous review process including multiple layers of approvals by research managers and experts in policy and international law. The organization is committed to uncovering human rights abuses and violations wherever they occur and will continue to do so."
