Some Jewish defenders of Mary Robinson
A group of Israeli human rights organizations are coming to the defense of contoversial Presidential Medal of Freedom choice Mary Robinson. A letter from leaders of seven such groups, including B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights -- Israel, have written President Obama to say that Robinson "deserves this honor for a lifetime of unflagging support to the cause of human rights in its many dimensions."
"We are greatly saddened by the media furor that has been generated by statements from AIPAC and the ADL, who have referred to Mrs. Robinson’s 'long public record of hostility and one-sided bias against the Jewish state,' and 'animus' towards Israel, respectively, they write. "These statements contain factual errors and are misleading, particularly with regard to the Durban anti-racism conference. Such rhetoric distracts attention from the real issues that need to be addressed to foster peace and security for Israel and its neighbors."
The full letter is after the jump. Also, here's a link to a letter from a British and Jewish human rights lawyer defending Robinson in the Irish Times:
President Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, DC
August 10, 2009
Dear Mr. President:
We, the directors and senior staff of the undersigned Israeli human rights organizations, would like to publicly support your choice of Mrs. Mary Robinson to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom award. Mrs. Robinson deserves this honor for a lifetime of unflagging support to the cause of human rights in its many dimensions.
We are greatly saddened by the media furor that has been generated by statements from AIPAC and the ADL, who have referred to Mrs. Robinson’s “long public record of hostility and one-sided bias against the Jewish state,” and “animus” towards Israel, respectively. These statements contain factual errors and are misleading, particularly with regard to the Durban anti-racism conference. Such rhetoric distracts attention from the real issues that need to be addressed to foster peace and security for Israel and its neighbors.
As leaders of a sector within Israeli civil society that monitors and often criticizes government and military policy for violating human rights, we do not see such actions as plausible reason for denying Mrs. Robinson the award. We believe that holding Israel accountable to its obligations under international law is part of the role of the international community through agencies like the United Nations and others.
Furthermore, we had the opportunity to meet with Mary Robinson and her staff when she visited Israel in 2008 as head of a delegation of eminent women leaders. We saw firsthand her genuine commitment to human rights principles. During her 2008 visit, we understand that Mrs. Robinson met with a broad spectrum of Israelis including officials like Mayor of Sderot Eli Moyal, Israeli Supreme Court Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch, as well as members of the Peace and Security Council, a group of retired senior military officials who provide expert opinions on security matters, and with human rights activists.
We urge those who voice this unwarranted criticism to turn their attention to finding constructive solutions to the challenges that stand in the way of peace and acknowledge Mary Robinson – who has worked diligently for the promotion of human rights and conflict resolution – as the deserving recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
With sincere thanks,
Hagai Elad
Executive Director, Association for Civil Rights in Israel
Dr. Dalia Dromi
Executive Director, Bimkom –Planners for Planning Rights
Jessica Montell
Executive Director, B’Tselem
Advocate Sari Bashi
Executive Director, Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement
Dalia Kerstein
Executive Director, Hamoked – Center for the Defense of the Individual
Hadas Ziv
Executive Director, Physicians for Human Rights - Israel
Yehudit Elkana
Founder and Board Member, Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights
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It’s unfortunate but not surprising that the incident of the Presidential Medal is pitting liberal and conservative Jewish organizations against each other.
I think it’s important to understand that the issue is not about somehow resisting holding Israel to account under international human rights standards. Indeed, Israel is daily held to account under international human rights standards at the UN in a wide variety of ways, and nothing gets in the way of the numerous bodies and mechanisms and committees functioning in this way both at the UN formally, and also by various international and Israeli human rights groups that work with the UN and other multilateral bodies to bring Israel to account.
The problem is that Durban is not about that, and often other settings at the UN or in Israel/Palestine are not really about that. It’s about singling out Israel, when no other country is covered. It’s about obsessive and even hysterical focus on Israel at the expense of other country situations. It’s about creating a constant frenzied mob within a context of international law that runs counter to the spirit of international human rights. It’s about one side always getting more media coverage as a simple artifact of the fact that Israel allows press coverage in the occupied territories unlike, say, Russia does in Chechnya.
Many will go on parsing each and every incident over the years in which Mary Robinson addressed Israel, and it will be hard to stop them on an open and free Internet. A reason why some groups will continue to feel indignation is because at both the original Durban conference and at its follow-up, Israel was the only country singled out, and within a framework that implied state-sponsored racism. That was wrong, and Mary Robinson, although she did achieve some successes in getting out the worst of the invective, did not succeed ultimately at addressing the central issue of imbalance here.
That’s why you cannot just brush this aside and say “let’s work for peace constructively” as wonderful a notion as that is—when the framework where some of this is being attempted is so unfair and so imbalanced. That’s why some of us signed appeals against the Durban NGO forum in Durban, and also again signed an appeal outlining the core principles that we as civic activists should have going into a conference like Durban:
http://www.magenta.nl/en/projects/5-core-principles-for-wcar-follow-up
@Catherine Fitzpatrick..."Indeed, Israel is daily held to account under international human rights standards at the UN in a wide variety of ways”....Get real Madam..Israel has for YEARS taken the not-so-honorable-position of hiding behind the veto power of the United States of America (another Lobby chalk-mark)....“let’s work for peace constructively”..Now where did I put that brush...These arguments just don’t hold water any longer madam..Israel has already been judged on the world stage by her actions (or rather inaction) in getting serious with peace...Try as you may, you will not bring my president down.
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Sandori VonRoth
08/10/09 06:12 PM
I salute each and every member of the Israeli human rights organizations mentioned above for their stand against the machine, in recognizing the undeniable truth that Mrs. Robinson is more than deserving of the great honor of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
When Israel breaks the chains that bind her and faces the world
alone, with only the merit of her vision to offer and unity at her core, will she not sink deep into the quagmire as before.
~Sandori VonRoth~