August 8, 2015
The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) has denounced a series of anti-Israel twitter posts by Kristyan Benedict, campaigns manager for Amnesty UK, in which he accuses the Israeli government of “getting away with murder every day” and “facilitating the murder” of Ali Saad Dawabsheh. Mr Benedict also claims that the death of Ali Saad Dawabsheh “gives Israel’s establishment an opportunity to justify its collective punishment of Palestinians”. Mr Benedict also retweeted a post by terrorist group Hamas accusing Israel of “war crimes”. Last year, Mr Benedict compared Israel to ISIS and in 2012 he was ordered to apologise after a tweet that he posted about three Jewish British MPs was deemed by Amnesty UK as “inappropriate and offensive” but not “anti-Semitic”.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the ADC, issued the following statement:
“Once again Amnesty UK has shown that it has zero credibility when it comes to Israel and that it is part of the problem rather than the solution. Regrettably, Amnesty UK officials never miss an opportunity to lambast Israel, showing their grossly distorted and biased perspective. Only four months ago we denounced the decision by Amnesty UK to reject a motion tabled at its Annual General Meeting that would have supported a campaign against the increase in anti-Semitism in Britain and that would have lobbied the government to tackle the rise in attacks. To use the death of an 18 month old baby as an opportunity to defame Israel is outrageous and immoral. These disgusting tweets by Mr Benedict are part of a longstanding pattern of rushing to judgment and stigmatizing Israel. Mr Benedict conveniently chose to ignore the factthat after the murder of Ali Saad Dawabsheh, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu condemned the attack as “terrorism”, and that numerous Israeli politicians, including Israel’s President, as well as Jewish leaders around the world, said they were shocked by this evil act. Further, Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that Israel was committed to” find the perpetrators and to bring them to justice”. Instead of dismissing Mr Benedict for his incitement, and for his one-sided and inflammatory anti-Israel statements, which include retweeting a post from a terrorist group that has openly declared that it wants to obliterate Israel, Amnesty UK has chosen to stand by its senior director and to legitimize such hateful statements. With the explosion of anti-Semitism across Europe, Amnesty UK has failed, time after time, to show leadership as a human rights campaigner on this pivotal issue, and continues to employ a person who delights in abusing and vilifying Israel.”
For more information, please contact Dr. Dvir Abramovich on 03 9272-5677