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The control of
Amnesty International
Βy: Francis Anthony Boyle
(professor of international law at the University of Illinois College
of Law. Between 1988 and 1992 he was a member of the board of Amnesty
International USA).
The israel lobby uses bribes and threats to control Amnesty-USA. And,
since Amnesty-USA pays about 20% of the budget for Amnesty-England, the
israeli lobby controls London too. I don't know about direct zionist
lobbying in England, but I do know that Amnesty supports the israeli
party line on all issues, whether by commission or omission.
I got involved in Amnesty in 1982 while the israelis were invading
Lebanon. Twenty thousand Lebanese people were being exterminated, but
Amnesty-USA refused to do anything, because of its pro-israel bias. In
fact, the only organization that protested the israelis was the
American Friends Service Committee.
Because of my efforts to publicize israeli crimes in Lebanon, I was
asked to attend the first meeting of what later became the Amnesty-USA
Middle East coordination group. (This was before I got on general
board.) The Middle East group is supposed to coordinate human rights
work on the Middle East. I was one of its founders. When I gave a
speech condemning israeli crimes in Lebanon, I made it clear that I
wasn't speaking on behalf of Amnesty. Nonetheless, the israelis were so
furious that they ordered the chair of the Amnesty board to have
everyone to shun me, which they did completely. The main board didn't
talk to me until late when I got elected to the board myself.
That election wasn't easy. Amnesty board members are supposed to be
democratically elected, but a small clique of pro-israel people (who
have held power for twenty years) controls the nominating process.
There is, however, a kind of grassroots petition process to have other
voices get nominated. Many of the general members were disgusted with
Amnesty’s support of Israeli atrocities, so they nominated me for the
board. This nominating petition process is difficult. You must get at
least a hundred signatures that are all very carefully scrutinized, and
the pro-israel clique throws up many hurdles. I fulfilled all
requirements, but the pro-israel clique disqualified me anyway.
Therefore I went to New York to file a lawsuit against Amnesty. On the
day before I was to file the suit, Amnesty backed down and said I could
run for the board. That's how I got in.
In April 2002, israelis massacred 60 Palestinians in Jenin. The United
Nations tried to investigate, but both Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch said there had been no massacre. This allowed Bush and
Ariel Sharon to prevent any investigation.
According to the Marine Corps Times (May 31, 2002) U.S. Marines were in
Jenin to watch the massacre. The Marines wanted to study how israelis
do urban cleansing. Hence the USA was directly complicit in the Jenin
nightmare.
Amnesty also refused to investigate the Sabra and Shatila massacres in
Lebanon. Philip Habib (then U.S. Envoy to the Middle East) personally
promised Arafat that if the PLO fighters abandoned the camps, then the
U.S. would guarantee the protection of Palestinians. When the killing
began, the U.S. embassy knew about it, but did nothing for 48 hours so
the Phalangists, working for the israelis, could complete their
massacre. The USA had a CIA agent at Sabra and Shatila. I'm not sure
who it was. Anyway the USA knew the massacre was happening, and allowed
it to continue. Then Amnesty said there had been no massacre.
Amnesty International is so big and so influential that its reports and
investigations are cited everywhere, including the halls of Congress.
For example, in the run-up to Bush Senior's invasion of Kuwait (1990)
there was going to be a debate in the U.S. Congress, and a vote. To
support the invasion and the killing, Amnesty-London published the Hill
& Knowlton lie that Iraqi soldiers were pulling Kuwaiti infants
from incubators and throwing the infants on the floor. Amnesty-London
knew it was a lie, but spread it anyway. Of the six votes in the U.S,
Senate that passed the resolution to go to war, several of those
senators said they were influenced by the Amnesty-London report.
Despite my best efforts while I was on the board, Amnesty International
was the only human rights organization that refused to condemn
apartheid in South Africa. No matter how hard we tried, no matter what
we did, Amnesty would not condemn apartheid in South Africa, since the
South African government was so closely tied to the israeli governmrnt.
In 1986, Amnesty supported right-wing death squads in Nicaragua.
Amnesty issued a report that criticized the Sandinista government, and
helped Reagan push another Contra Aid appropriation through a reluctant
congress.
Today, Amnesty International-Venezuela supports Bush. When Bush's
attempted coup against Chavez failed in April 2002, Amnesty-Venezuela
charged Chavez with ''crimes against humanity''.
Amnesty has a separate chapter in Puerto Rico. Its members came to our
USA convention. At a general meeting, I helped get the Amnesty-USA to
adopt two resolutions dealing with the human rights abuses in Puerto
Rico, plus the deplorable condition of Puerto Rican political prisoners
in U.S. jails. Amnesty-Puerto Rico asked me to come to Puerto Rico and
give the keynote address on the right of Puerto Rican political
prisoners to be treated as prisoners of war. However, Amnesty-London
and Amnesty-USA did everything possible to sabotage my trip to Puerto
Rico, and my ability to give that keynote address.
What motivates Amnesty is not human rights, but turf battles, plus the
quest for publicity, money, and new members. Amnesty only discusses
human rights violations when the publicity helps the USA or israel.
The people who control the Amnesty board are extremely arrogant. ''We
are Amnesty International, the world's largest and most powerful human
rights organization! We won the Nobel Peace Prize for our work!
Therefore we do whatever we want''. Search your Lexis-Nexis database
and see if Amnesty has ever issued a single apology for spreading the
Kuwaiti dead babies lie. Amnesty knows it lied in order to help Bush
Senior go to war, but the Amnesty board members don't care.
'Aρθρα-σχόλια-συνεργασίες-επιστολές
είναι καλοδεχούμενα (-ες) γιά δημοσίευση
Επιτρέπεται η με κάθε τρόπο μετάδοση, αναδημοσίευση του περιεχόμενου
του "Καλαμιού",
όταν αναφέρεται τ' όνομά του, με την ένδειξη www.Kalami.net
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