HRW Still Ducks Garlasco and Stork Questions
The revelations in September 2009 that Human Rights Watch military investigator Marc Garlasco is an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia and author of a book on the subject prompted notable defensiveness and stonewalling by an organization devoted to challenging the conduct of others — and expecting corrective action. A March 28, 2010 story in the Times Online by Jonathan Foreman revisits the issue:
The vehemence of Human Rights Watch in defending Garlasco surprised many. But it made sense for two reasons. Though HRW relishes complaints from infuriated dictatorships, it is not used to its personnel and methods being questioned at home. And it coincided with a series of less-well-publicised criticisms of the group. Suddenly, when its own practices came under scrutiny, it became very touchy.
On September 14 last year the organisation suspended Marc Garlasco with pay “pending an investigation”. But as the months went by, HRW said nothing about the investigation — and nothing about Garlasco’s status.
Finally, the organization removed his name from the staff list on their Web site on March 5, 2010. Foreman notes Garlasco is far from the only dubious staff member, citing the case of Joe Stork. As CAMERA originally reported on Feb 19, 2009, deputy head of HRW’s Middle East department Joe Stork is a radical who spoke at a conference on “Zionism and Racism” in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1976 and who, in a volume based on that conference,
refers to the “Zionist colonization of Palestine” (p 209), the “Zionist settler-colonial enterprise” (p 214), the “infamous Balfour declaration” (p 214), and the “Zionist theft of the property and productive resources” (p 218). (Zionism, Imperialism and Racism, A.W. Kayyali, editor, Croom Helm Ltd.,1979)
More from SNAPSHOTS
The Media Ignores Foiled Plot to Assassinate Israel’s Defense Minister
February 20, 2018
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman Israeli authorities foiled a plot to assassinate Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, the Shin Bet security service said on Feb. 18, 2018. The Shin Bet’s remarks went widely underreported by major [...]
Huffington Post Arabic, Platform for Hamas Propaganda
February 12, 2018
Feb. 20 Update: Huffington Post Arabic Removes Hamas Propaganda Hamas has found an unlikely platform to amplify its propaganda. Huffington Post Arabic has copied and pasted a Hamas caption, word for word, including language completely [...]
UPDATED:The Washington Post Claims Israel Used Iranian Drone As ‘Pretext’ For Attack
February 10, 2018
The remnants of the Iranian UAV. Picture courtesy of The Times of Israel The Washington Post treated an Iranian attack against Israel with unwarranted skepticism, using the event to unfairly question the motives of the [...]
NY Times: “Hard-Line” Jews Support Recognition of Jerusalem as Capital
February 8, 2018
A New York Times news story about this morning's National Prayer Breakfast broad-brushes American Jews who back recognition of Israel's capital in Jerusalem as hard-liners. In the article, White House correspondent Mark Lander asserts: Mr. [...]
‘Moderate’ Palestinian ‘Peace Negotiator’ Outraged Over U.S. Designation of Hamas Terrorist
February 1, 2018
Ismail Haniyeh On Jan. 31, 2018 the United States State Department announced that top Hamas operative Ismail Haniyeh was now listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). Less than twenty-four hours later, the Palestinian [...]
Echoes of the Past: German Tanks and the Turkish Government Assaulting Minorities
January 31, 2018
An article in the German newspaper Deutsche Welle reports on the consternation of members of the German government over the use of German Leopard tanks by the Turkish army in its cross-border invasion of the [...]