New York, NY, July 2, 2009… The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said a new report from Amnesty International "willfully ignores the tactics and terrorism of Hamas, while outrageously accusing the Israeli military of war crimes."

The Amnesty report, "Israel/Gaza: Operation 'Cast Lead': 22 Days of Death and Destruction," looks at the events of Israel's operation in Gaza in late December 2008 and January 2009.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

Amnesty International's report is fundamentally biased against Israel.  The report willfully ignores the tactics and terrorism of Hamas, while outrageously accusing the Israeli military of war crimes.

 

In its criticism of Israel's actions during the Gaza offensive, Amnesty pays lip service to Israel's right to self-defense.  It makes the preposterous claim that "much of the destruction was wanton and deliberate and…could not be justified on grounds of military necessity."  The report downplays the fact that Israel made every effort to warn civilians and to minimize casualties, and ignores the Hamas tactics and terrorism that prompted the need for the Israel's military response in the first place.

 

The Amnesty report ignores evidence, in video footage widely distributed by the Israeli army, clearly showing the deliberate attempts by Hamas to embed themselves in civilian areas and disguise themselves as civilians.  These and other tactics are cynically used by Hamas to sway international opinion against Israel.

 

The report also ignores other Hamas tactics -- building their military infrastructure in densely populated areas and using schools, mosques and hospitals for weapons storage and missile launching sites -- which inevitably lead to civilian casualties.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.