"Instead of seeking the truth, Amnesty echoes the same lies shared by terrorist organizations," Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in wake of the London-based organizations report accusing Israel of apartheid.
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One wonders whether his remark also referred to the Palestinian Authority, which under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas has played a key role in spreading false propaganda against Israel and leads an international legal campaign against Jerusalem, and which praised the Amnesty report and used it to urge the United Nations to impose sanctions on the Jewish state.
There is no point in justifying our position to those whose motives are not necessarily driven by a search for truth and justice. Their venomous criticism of us should rather be seen as an opportunity to see who we can work with, and make firm our beliefs.
Not even a week after International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Amnesty UK showed us what modern-day antisemitism is, the kind that disguises itself as pursuit of human rights and justice, that strives to deny the Jewish people the right to self-determination, and that applies a double standard to Israel alone.
The title of the report leaves no doubt as to what Amnesty seeks. "Israel's apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity." And just to be on the safe side, it explicitly calls on the International Criminal Court to investigate these alleged apartheid crimes, and the nations of the world to prosecute "the perpetrators of the violence."
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair once said that many of those delegitimizing Israel will deny it vehemently. They will claim their remarks are legitimate criticism of Israel, whose actions they view as human rights and international law violations. This is also the case with the Amnesty report.
Israel wages many struggles, constantly, in various arenas, the biggest one of which is the struggle for the truth. Allegations against it change, transform, morph, but their purpose is the same: to challenge the legitimacy of the Jewish state.
Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Brick put it well when he said that confidence in the righteousness of our path is the cornerstone and foundation of our state's strength and success.
In the face of critical remarks, we must remember that the Israel Defense Forces is the most moral army in the world, that Israel is a democratic state governed by the rule of law, and that it is committed to international law and human rights values.
This commitment is rooted in its character, values, institutions, and mechanisms. It is rooted in education and values. We are steadfast, but when needed, we course-correct. We do not need sermons on morality or outside judicial intervention. Anyone truly caring about human rights and international law would be better off turning his or her attention to places that truly need them.
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