Pod Save America Hosts Call on Democrats to Cut All Israel Military Aid, No Longer Accept AIPAC Funding
Jews, Israelis Targeted in Austria Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents; Local Jewish Community Calls for Action
‘All of Our Strength’: Over 1,000 Pro-Israel Activists Gather in DC for Solidarity Conference
‘Devastated’: Wesley LePatner, Killed in Manhattan Mass Shooting, Was a Jewish Communal, Philanthropic Leader
Sen. Angus King Vows to No Longer Vote for Israel Military Aid Until Gaza Conditions Improve
Europe Won’t Pressure Israel to ‘Commit Suicide’ Amid Gaza Backlash, Palestinian State Push, Says Israeli FM
Israel’s National Soccer Coach Attacked in Athens Before Soccer Fans Chant ‘F–K Israel, Free Palestine’ at Match
New York Judge Sentences Neo-Nazi to 5 Years for Livestreaming Bomb Threats Against Jewish Hospitals
US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue
UK Plans to Recognize Palestinian State in September Unless Israel Meets Conditions, Starmer Says
Human Rights Watch: Palestinian Authority and Hamas Crush Dissidents
Error: Contact form not found.
by JNS.org
A Hamas military drill in the Gaza Strip in March 2018. Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa.
JNS.org – Despite its anti-Israel stance, the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch accused the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday of violently stopping dissent.
“Twenty-five years after Oslo, Palestinian authorities have gained only limited power in the West Bank and Gaza, but yet where they have autonomy, they have developed parallel police states,” said Tom Porteous, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch. “Calls by Palestinian officials to safeguard Palestinian rights ring hollow as they crush dissent.”
The New York-based group “interviewed 147 witnesses, including former detainees and their relatives, lawyers, and representatives of nongovernmental groups, and reviewed photographic evidence, medical reports and court documents.”
“Systematic arbitrary arrests and torture violate major human rights treaties to which Palestine recently acceded,” added HRW. “Few security officers have been prosecuted, and none have been convicted for wrongful arrest or torture, as far as Human Rights Watch has been able to determine.”
HRW called on the United States, the European Union and others to halt assistance to “specific units or agencies implicated in widespread arbitrary arrests and torture” by Hamas and the PA until the practices cease and the perpetrators are held accountable.
The PA was taken aback by the findings.
“What HRW did is a political act and not a legal act,” said Adnan Damiri, spokesman for the PA security services. “I’ve never heard of human rights groups calling to stop financial aid before.”
