Amnesty International and Lebanon

By accusing Israel of war crimes in the Lebanon conflict, Amnesty International has shown that it has lost its way in the modern world. Once a trusted and respected organization which, among other things, revealed persecution and injustice in the Soviet Union and Soviet bloc and supported efforts to stop them, it has become damaged - party to a disreputable international campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel and give comfort to its enemies. The damage goes much further: Amnesty's other activities, such as its wholly laudable campaigns for justice in Darfur, Sierra Leone, Chechnya, Sri Lanka and beyond are placed in doubt and jeopardy by this accusation, which ignores the circumstance that Israel did not deliberately target civilians in the conflict, but tried to defend itself against indiscriminate attack by extreme, fascistic forces that are devoid of regard for human life and dignity. The accusation and the accusers display a nihilism that can only in the end destroy Amnesty International itself.