The Activism of Deferent Israeli Institutions & Groups
Activism during the War on Gaza 27/ 12/2008 -17-1-2009
Prepared By: Eng. Shafiq Bara
Introduced To : D. Nurhan Abu Gdai
2nd Semester 2008/2009
V.U.B. Brussels
Introduction :
In every conflict there is two sides and two stories or even more , and the second side in the case of Gaza conflict is the state of Israel with all its official and noun official institutions , During the Gaza cast lead operation (war) , all the Israeli institutions worked together as a hidden network and in deferent levels and categories to keep the image of Israel as a democratic state defending its land against a foreign attacks , against the Palestinian and international institutions that tried to draw another image for the Gaza war.
As there is to many Israeli institutions that worked during the Gaza un equal war to draw the Israeli image and story it will be hard to highlight them all but we will try to divide them in main categories and to speak about main examples in each category ,
The first category : of Israeli institutions that worked during the Gaza war is the official level
one of the main players in this level was the Israeli Army so called by the Israeli as ( The Israeli defense force – IDF ) or what's known by the Palestinians as the Occupation force , Back in 1948 right after the so called the declaration of independence of state of Israel , and with the establishment of the official Israeli army , a special unit was created to deal with the image of this army in the eyes of the world , this unit was called (The IDF Spokesperson's Unit ) , this unit has an official statement about its mission that says :
" The purpose of the IDF Spokesperson's Unit is to report on the accomplishments and activities of the IDF to the Israeli and international public, to nurture public confidence in the IDF, and to serve as the IDF's primary professional authority on matters of public relations and distribution of information to the public ".[1]
( the unit logo )
Background:
The so called IDF Spokesperson Brigade represents the Israeli army in the communication arena, widening its scope constantly. Publishing communication announcements, quick and reliable updates, guided press tours and commander training are only a portion of the operations the troops and commanders implement daily. The brigade operates daily with 500 media outlets and 2500 journalists and civilian agents addressing over 2000 inquiries a month.
Professional Functions:
The so called IDF Spokesperson's Unit performs a variety of functions. This includes: serving as the spokesperson for the Israeli army both in side Israel and the occupied territories and abroad, developing and implementing the army public relations policies, disseminating military related information to the public, instructing the army personnel in matters pertaining to Public relations, and developing relationships with media outlets and accompanying them to military events.
During the war on Gaza or Cast Lead – limited military operation ( the name invented by the unit ) the unit played a major role in shaping the story and the image of the war from the official Israeli point of view , through daily conferences and meetings around the clock with the media representatives and through spokesmen who speak deferent languages like Hebrew , Arabic , English , French and many others languages this unit managed to address the public inside Israel and the hole world even the Arab world and the Palestinian community through deferent ways , like TV stations , Radio , Satellite news paper and internet .
Their purpose was to show that the military operation they were launching on Gaza strip which was seen by the world as a closed ghetto filed with civilians ,is an ethical operation and that the tool of death and destruction caused by the heavy military equipments ( Tanks , artillery , Airplanes , Helicopters and advanced technological Arms ) used against Hammas ( a Palestinian fraction seen by the Israelis as a terrorist organization ) as they insisted and not the Palestinian civilians , and that all the destruction of Palestinian infra structure and the high numbers of causalities in the Palestinian side are part of the battle collateral damage and that it's not intended .
This brigade is a will organized and funded brigade , and all the officers inside passed high quality trainings to understand the background of the people they address and the way to address each community , the unit also was looking at the latest technologies to communicate the public realm , and she noticed early that a major part of the battle on the ground during the last war was taking place on the internet through many web sites ,
And even she had its own web site (http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/Terms.htm) which address the people in 2 languages ( Hebrew and English ) and speaks about the deferent activates & operations done by the army in almost a real time , but that was not enough , because of the deferent social web sites like face book and YouTube that attracts so many people to them , because of their deferent capabilities of hosting videos and sound and flash animations , and to reach a wide base of humans around the globe .
IDF spokesperson web site
One of their banners
So the brigade saw that he must launch new channels and groups about his activities at those 2 famous web sites before tow months of the war on Gaza , the most famous site that this brigade launched was a Chanel on you tube called idfnadesk (http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk) , this Chanel contains videos and films about the major operations carried inside Gaza , films that records air strikes at targets inside Gaza & films about conferences and meetings with the press held by the brigade spoke men .
One famous incident related to this Chanel was a film released through it to the press shows two men launching mortars from inside a school , in response to the united nations accusations to Israel of shilling one of her UNERWA schools in Gaza during the war (6/1/2009) killing at least 45 Palestinians and Injuring dozens of them , which was discovered to be an old video tape that goes 3 years back on time , and then the IDF was forced to announce an apology to the united nations about this shilling claiming it’s a part of the collateral damage of the battle that takes the civilians houses as its ground , to avoid future trails for their army officers in International courts with war crimes .
The YouTube Chanel launched by the brigade .
Of course there is many other official institutions that tried to address deferent media agencies like 
The Government Press Office (GPO) - (http://www.pmo.gov.il) , which is an agency within the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) assigned with the responsibility of coordinating channels of communication between the Israeli government and the press corps. We issue press accreditation and are responsible for facilitating press coverage of key state functions and visits of foreign dignitaries , and was dealing through the Gaza war on the political level , addressing the people about the policies of the Israeli government in Gaza .
The web site of The Israeli Government Press Office (GPO)
The second category: the semi private institutions
like the deferent news Papers in Israel , one of the biggest and most famous news papers in Israel is Haaretz Newspaper (http://www.haaretz.com) ,
Haaretz describes herself as an independent daily newspaper with a broadly liberal outlook both on domestic issues and on international affairs. It has a journalistic staff of some 330 reporters, writers and editors. The paper is perhaps best known for its Op-ed page, where its senior columnists - among them some of Israel's leading commentators and analysts - reflect on current events. and Haaretz claims that she plays an important role in the shaping of public opinion and is read with care in government and decision-making circles.
Haaretz was founded in Jerusalem in 1919 by a group of Zionist immigrants, mainly from Russia, In 1922, the paper moved to Tel Aviv, its home to the present day.
The paper appears daily (except Saturdays), in four broadsheet sections:
News and sports (16-20 pages); business and finance (16-20 pages); opinion and features (8 pages); and arts and leisure (8-10 pages). In addition, it carries a real estate supplement on Sundays, a multimedia supplement ("Captain Internet") on Tuesdays, a book review supplement on Wednesdays, a 120-page weekend magazine on Fridays and a monthly health magazine. Haaretz sells 75,000 copies on weekdays and 95,000 on Fridays. Most of its readers are regular subscribers; news-stand sales account for a relatively small proportion .[2]
In addition to that Harretz Launched a web site that contains big part from the articles in the printed edition in addition to a sources of information's about the urgent news events that happen all around the world specially in Israel and occupied Palestine , in almost a real time feed , this site has tow editions a Hebrew language one and an English one , but the Hebrew copy is bigger and covers more issues than the English one , but the great thing about it that it forms a big archive for all the articles and the news analysis done by the news paper since the site was established .
Haaretz web site
The good thing about haaretz that it forms something like a pool that contains the articles of deferent famous Israeli writers from the deferent sides of the Israeli political rainbow , from the extreme left to the extreme right, like Amos Harel ( Military reporter concerned about the Palestinian conflict ) , Akiva Eldar and many other reporters , and because of the deferent topics inside it gives a good understanding to the way of thinking in Israel almost in everything , from politics to economy to sport, etc..
During the war on Gaza , Harretz made a special Coverage for the action in the ground , and her web site was updating the news almost around the clock ,the coverage was a pro- Israeli coverage that support the war on Gaza Mainly as almost the majority of the Israeli citizens , in order to bring Peace to the southern part of Israel as many correspondent like to say , but to be fair in its coverage the news paper was showing a big part of the Palestinian suffering and the rise in the death toll among them , but almost blaming Hamas of the responsibility about the situation ,
And in addition to its coverage to the military operation and the situation inside Gaza using reports from the both sides of the conflict , the news paper played a major role in showing the Israeli citizens suffering in the south , and she covered it in an extinctive way from the Palestinian rocket attacks to the life inside shelters to the fears of children , stereotyping a propaganda that claims there were a welfare war going in the ground , and in some times claiming that the agony in the Israeli side is even bigger .
The third category : the Pro – Israeli institutions working inside Israel and around the worl , one of the most important of them is the AIPAC (America's Pro-Israel Lobby ).
History & Background :
For more than half a century, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has worked to help make Israel more secure by ensuring that American support remains strong. From a small pro-Israel public affairs boutique in the 1950s, AIPAC has grown into a 100,000-member national grassroots movement described by The New York Times as "the most important organization affecting America's relationship with Israel." [3]
AIPAC Achievements :
AIPAC is very proud for the support that she provide for Israel ,and the powerful relations with the main tow American parties , in their web site they count part of their recent achievements by saying :" AIPAC works with both Democratic and Republican political leaders to enact public policy that strengthens the vital U.S.-Israel relationship. With the support of its members nationwide, AIPAC has worked with Congress and the Executive Branch on numerous critical initiatives -- from securing vital foreign aid for Israel to stopping Iran's illicit nuclear program." [4]
A photo from the AIPAC web Site shows the relationship with the Top united states leaders ,
AIPAC and the War On GAZA :
During the war on Gaza AIPAC was organizing several activities all over the united states to support Israel , holding meetings with the American politicians , organizing workshops and pro Israel rallies& raising funds to support the war on Gaza and to make its image on the American realm as a legitimate War.
The AIPAC policy in covering the daily war events is totally a pure extreme right wing coverage , that totally focus on the Israeli civilians agony , and showing the Palestinians in Gaza as terrorists attacking Israel with all the power & brutality they have .
A brief about this kind of coverage can be seen in the articles head lines after a simple search on Gaza inside their web site ( http://www.aipac.org/) and below is an example about their publications about Gaza war which even make you see the long term preparation for the war before it starts in the ground :
| ... Editorial: On Gaza's Edge. 9/16/2007. ... Terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other |
[PDF] Alarming Threat: Hamas Amassing Weapons in Gaza
| ... October 12, 2007 Alarming Threat: Hamas Amassing Weapons in Gaza ... 0 5 mi. TERRORIST |
[PDF] Alarming Threat: Terrorists Amassing Weapons in Gaza
| ... Alarming Threat: Terrorists Amassing Weapons in Gaza ... An Israeli man sits in his living |
[PDF] Hamas Creates Terror ‘State’ in Gaza
the UJC ( United Jewish Communities for north America ),
Another similar institution that works in the United States and Canada is the UJC ( United Jewish Communities for north America ),
History & Background :
the UJC Claims it represent and serve 157 Jewish federations and 400 independent Jewish communities across North America. & that It reflects the values of social justice and human rights that define the Jewish people. The values of caring that transform lives and perform miracles.
They also claim to represents and serves one of the world's largest and most effective networks of social service providers and programs. Men, women and children – both professionals and volunteers – dedicated to safeguarding and enhancing Jewish life. And to meeting the needs of all people, Jews and non-Jews, wherever they live.
United Jewish Communities – the merger of the Council of Jewish Federations, United Israel Appeal, and United Jewish Appeal – was realized to represent and serve the North American federation system. To put forth a new model of community and philanthropy. To build the framework for new opportunities and new partnerships that will challenge the Jewish people to continue the traditions of education, leadership, advocacy and responsibility that have inspired the world.
the UJC federation system advocates for Israel and its claimed desire for peace, but she also claims that it remains a non-partisan organization un-aligned with any particular political party in the United States or abroad.[5]
UJC and the War On GAZA :
UJC on its web site represents part of its activities to support Israel position on the un even war and she organized many activities similar to AIPAC like organizing workshops and pro Israel rallies& raising funds to support the civilian Jewish communities in crises areas as they claim sending equipment food and money to the Israeli towns or settlements near the border with Gaza strip , and even organizing supporting trips for Jewish and American Christians and politicians to visit the Israeli towns in the conflict area to increase their support .
And to increase their support UJC was broadcasting a real time reports about the conditions of Israeli civilians in the war time through deferent media institutions in north America , and also in her web site : (http://www.ujc.org ) .
UJC web site
Below there is an example about the deferent ways of activism the UJC did during the war time as they represented in their web site :
Rallies Across North America: A week of solidarity with Israel
the Rallies Across North America: A week of solidarity with Israel of communities hosting rallies to support Israel and for new tools to help make your rallies a success, including:
A video message from Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor;
A video message from Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni;
Rally banners and signage;
Talking Points for speakers and media interviews;
Coverage from local rallies;
IAI Sample Letter to Senator or Representative Regarding the Gaza Situation;
Statements of Support from U.S. Congressional Leaders;
Resources from the Israeli Embassy in Washington;
High-res images from the Gaza perimeter;
A moving letter from Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak;
Email Your Support for Congressional Resolution Supporting Israel's Right to Self Defense.
UJC Solidarity Mission
The UJC Leadership Solidarity Mission to Israel had at that time 27 participants, with more expected to register in the next days.
The mission, , will allow participants to hear from top Israeli government officials, meet with residents and city officials in Southern Israel, visit wounded civilians and soldiers, attend "insiders" briefings with military officials and visit JAFI/JDC programs that are already meeting needs, but require even more support as these needs grow. Please contact UJC's Susan Solow-Dubin for details.
UJC America's Voices Media Mission
UJC took American journalists to Israel from Jan. 11 through 14 on an America's Voices Media Mission. The mission included a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, briefings from IDF spokespeople and visits to JAFI/JDC programs that are helping Israelis in Southern Israel, to wounded Israelis and Palestineans at Barzilai Medical Center and to locations hit by Hamas missiles.
UJC Israel Solidarity Drive
UJC has launched an Israel Solidarity Drive to help bring relief to the nearly 1 million Israelis living under threat of missile attacks from Gaza. The UJC/Federation system has committed $10 million to meet growing humanitarian and social needs in Southern Israel. Please encourage your community to donate now.
UJC Israel's Comprehensive Situation Update:
the UJC Israel Office is focused on the situation in Gaza and has provided this latest comprehensive situation update (from the Israeli point of View ) , which includes information on the military, politics and the status of social needs via our main partners in Israel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel.
UJC's Gaza Situation Web page:
the UJC's Gaza Situation Web page at www.ujc.org/gaza it represents background resources, stories from the Israeli side of the front, multimedia material, news coverage and more. This page is being updated daily. [6]
and its clear that this coverage is focusing totally on the Israeli story forming a humanitarian issue to make more and more people take the Israeli story as a complete package , and you can see it never take in consideration the Palestinian side of story , and even if you made a review to this site continent you can feel that Palestinian civilians never exist and all those in Gaza are Hamas members .
The 4th category : international institutions that stereotype itself as Neutral monitors for the conflict but they actually have a pro Israeli
international institutions that stereotype itself as Neutral monitors for the conflict but they actually have a pro Israeli policy in covering the war and in the reports about the situation they relies in their web sites ,One of those Institutions is the Human Rights tribune (http://www.humanrights-geneva.info).
History and background :
The Human Rights Tribune is a website was set up by the press agency InfoSud in Geneva in March 2006, in English and French, specializing in human rights issues. Every year it puts on line some 2500 articles covering news and analysis of key human rights issues. The site publishes articles written by journalists and accepts contributions from diplomats, victims, experts, NGOs and humanitarian organizations.
Human Rights Tribune is funded by donations from the public and private sector. It claims to be editorially independent in its coverage of political, economic and religious issues. The they also claim to abides to ethical Charters in its relations with sponsors as well as in its editorial line, based on the declaration of the rights and responsibilities drawn up by the Swiss Journalist Federation “impressum”.
For the first while you will see a web site well designed and funded and have a high rating through Google Gadget (4/10 ) which means he relatively receive a high number of visitors monthly almost the same as the Palestinian Maan News agency web site ,
The web site is not mainly concerned about the middle east conflict as it covers almost all the conflicts around the world , and speaks about the human rights conditions during each struggle ( like the reports about the Tamels of Serilanka ),
And to be honest for the first while you will see a good balanced coverage for the conflicts even in Gaza , as you can find in the web site dozens of reports about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza strip , and the developments inside the Gaza strip using mostly the human rights reports in its coverage to the events in the ground .
The problem in this site that the majority of the reports comes from Israeli institutions like the Israeli human rights organizations , and few of them are from international institutions like the United Nations and the UNERWA , but you can't find any report from a Palestinian source , and even worse it uses sometimes official Israeli government and army announcements as their source reports like the report in the link below which is an official Israeli army announcement about the situation in Gaza without butting any other report that speaks about the Palestinian point of view for the actions going in the ground .
The article name is :"Conclusion of Investigations into Central Claims and Issues in Operation Cast Lead"- Annoucement from Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), http://www.humanrights-geneva.info/spip.php?page=print_article&id_article=4368
The 5th category : the nongovernmental institutions like the human rights groups .
The Human rights groups in Israel is a wide expression that covers at least 3 deferent kinds of groups that define itself as Israeli :
· 1st type : Offices and subdivisions for international human rights groups like Amnesty International - Israel Section
, http://www.amnesty.org.il/, & Physicians for Human Rights - Israel , http://www.phr.org.il/phr/ .
Amnesty Israel Logo
Physicians for Human Rights – Israel logo
· 2nd type : Arab Palestinian groups in the 1948 territories like Adalah - The legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel , (http://www.adalah.org/ ).
Adalah Logo
History & Back Ground :
Adalah is an independent human rights organization, registered in Israel. It is a non-profit, non-governmental, and non-partisan legal center. Established in November 1996, it serves Arab citizens of Israel, numbering over one million people or close to 20% of the population. Adalah ("Justice" in Arabic) works to protect human rights in general, and the rights of the Arab minority in particular.
Adalah's main goals are to achieve equal individual and collective rights for the Arab minority in Israel in different fields including land rights; civil and political rights; cultural, social, and economic rights; religious rights; women's rights; and prisoners' rights.
In order to achieve these goals, Adalah:
· Brings cases before Israeli courts and various state authorities regarding the rights of the Arab minority.
· Advocates for legislation that will ensure equal individual and collective rights for the Arab minority.
· Provides legal consultation to individuals, non-governmental organizations, and Arab institutions.
· Appeals to international institutions and forums in order to promote the rights of the Arab minority in particular, and human rights in general.
· Organizes study days, seminars, and workshops, and publishes reports on legal issues concerning the rights of the Arab minority in particular, and human rights in general.
· Trains stagiaires (legal apprentices), law students, and new Arab lawyers in the field of human rights.[7]
The problem that Adalah web site in English is not so affective and it seems it was not modified for a long time , but its web site in Arabic and Hebrew are better organized and being updated every while , adalah web site address is : (http://www.adalah.org)
Adalah Web site (http://www.adalah.org)
Adalah and the War On GAZA :
Even long before the last war on Gaza the group have a lot of activities to expose the Israeli racism in all the historical Palestine , because Arabs inside Israel see them self's as a major part of the Palestinian people and they are proud to announce that they are ,
During the year before the war Adala went to the Israeli courts with many cases concerned about the conditions in Gaza strip concerned about the siege the racism , the reduction of basic supplies , the freedom of movement & the conditions on the checkpoints .
Like in 7 February 2008 , Adala published a report about the Israeli intension to reduce the amount of power entering the closed Gaza strip & after she went to the supreme Israeli court which dismissed its cause and approved the government action , the report headlines was like that :
· Starting Tomorrow: Escalation in Collective Punishment of Gaza – With Supreme Court Approval
· Human Rights Groups: "Israel is Violating the Rights of Civilians in Gaza and Depriving them of Basic Needs – in Violation of International Law."
· Human Rights Organizations Petition Supreme Court Demanding an Injunction against Israeli Government to Prevent Disruption to Supply of Electricity and Fuel to Gaza
Adala spoke about the Israeli decision and how it will affect the daily life of civilians , and that and action like that is forbidden by law in the national and the international level , in a way to expose the Israeli policies to the world, During the war on Gaza & after it Adala continued her work and dozens of times she went to the Israeli courts in a try to stop the Israeli killing machine with the limited available ways that she could do .
Also Adala Established a hot line during the war time to collect information's and stories about what is going in the ground , and the Israeli war crimes & in a rare development Adala worked with deferent Israeli groups trying to unify their efforts to expose the humanitarian conditions inside Gaza , and to do so they established a collective blog on the net to but their reports and the latest developments , which we are going to speak about it later in this Research.
· 3nd type : Israeli human rights groups:
concerned in deferent levels of human rights and every groups is concerned in one or more particular issue , like the rights of individuals , or the freedom of movement , anti racism or the health condition , some of them work in general inside Israel and the occupied territories and some of them is concerned in the Palestinian issue under occupation , and most of those groups are politically left winged financed by left Israeli parties or even the European union . And we are going to left some of them below :
1) Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights,( http://eng.bimkom.org/),
B
Bimkom Logo
Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights is an Israeli non-profit organization formed in 1999 by a group of planners and architects, in order to strengthen democracy and human rights in the field of planning.
Spatial planning plays a crucial role in determining the quality of life environment, as well as the prospects for socio-economic development and well-being of individuals and communities alike. The planning process in Israel is highly centralized and largely removed from the sphere of public debate and scrutiny. As a result, the rights and needs of local communities are often not taken into account. Flawed or discriminatory planning, and the unequal distribution of land and other public resources reinforce the inequalities between different sectors of society and impact negatively on our most basic values and rights.
Drawing on values such as human rights, social justice, good governance and community participation, the group seek to affect system-wide change by encouraging the development of new planning policies and procedures that are more equitable and responsive to the needs of the various communities.
And part of the group concerns is the conditions of urban planning in the Palestinian territories and the effect of the expansion of Israeli settlements and during the war the group was concerned in the effect of the destruction on the spatiality of the Palestinian urban context and the long term effects caused by the destruction of the infra structure and the physical structure on the quality of life .[8]
2) Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, www.Gisha.org
The Group Logo
For sorry we couldn’t find much about Gisha as her web site is corrupted and not functioning , but Gisha concern is limited to the freedom of movement for individuals ,groups and Goods in Israel and the Palestinian territories , and she was watching in the last few years the conditions of movement , road blocks , check points and the siege on Gaza strip , and her efforts some time went beyond the reports to visual actions like a small film submitted at the net speaks about the Siege in Gaza , and how the deferent regional and international sides take a part in making it affective and how is that affecting the ordinary human life in Gaza and making it unbearable, but we must not forget that this is an Israeli group that in the same time blames Palestinians by launching missiles in Israel . and here is a link to this short film called Closed Zone in YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIwASYuDGYM
Photos from the Film scene
And this is another link for a short film (Closed Zone – Behind the scene ) that speaks about the idea about this film and why this group is concerned : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPhrsY6KRIA
3) Hamoked - Center for the Defense of the Individual , http://www.hamoked.org/
HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, is a human rights organization which was established in order to assist Palestinians subjected to the Israeli occupation which causes severe and ongoing violation of their rights. HaMoked works for the enforcement of the standards and values of international human rights and humanitarian law.
HaMoked was established in 1988, against the backdrop of the first intifada. At the time, the organization was designed to help Palestinians injured by the “broken bones” policy, and was called “The Hotline for Victims of Violence”. As Palestinians from the Israeli Occupied Territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem turned to HaMoked with additional issues, the organization expanded its activities to handle human rights violations in other spheres as well. These include Detainee Rights; Residency Rights and Family Unification; Freedom of Movement; Violence by security forces and settlers toward Palestinians; House Demolition and more.
Processing of complaints includes contacting the relevant authorities, and when necessary filing legal claims and submitting petitions to the High Court of Justice. Concurrently, HaMoked endeavors to introduce policy changes and implement legislative amendments that would improve the status of human rights in the Occupied Territories.
HaMoked’s team comprises 35 Jewish and Palestinian workers.
Since its inception, HaMoked has handled more than 65,000 complaints on various subjects.
4) B'Tselem - the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, http://www.btselem.org
B'TSELEM web Site Header
B'TSELEM - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members. It endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel.
B'Tselem in Hebrew literally means "in the image of," and is also used as a synonym for human dignity. The word is taken from Genesis 1:27 "And God created humans in his image. In the image of God did He create him." It is in this spirit that the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "All human beings are born equal in dignity and rights."
As an Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem claims that it acts primarily to change Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories and ensure that its government, which rules the Occupied Territories, protects the human rights of residents there and complies with its obligations under international law.
B'Tselem claims to independent and is funded by contributions from foundations in Europe and North America that support human rights activity worldwide, and by private individuals in Israel and abroad.
B'Tselem has attained a prominent place among human rights organizations. In December, 1989 it received the Carter-Menil Award for Human Rights. Its reports have gained B'Tselem a reputation for accuracy, and the Israeli authorities relate to them seriously. B'Tselem claims that it ensures the reliability of information it publishes by conducting its own fieldwork and research, the results of which are thoroughly cross-checked with relevant documents, official government sources, and information from other sources, among them Israeli, Palestinian, and other human rights organizations.
Activities :
The focus on documentation reflects B'Tselem's objective of providing as much information as possible to the Israeli public, since information is indispensable to taking action and making choices. Readers of B'Tselem publications may decide to do nothing, but they cannot say, "We didn't know."
Reports
B'Tselem has published scores of reports, some comprehensive in scope, covering most kinds of human rights violations that have occurred in the Occupied Territories. The reports have dealt, for example, with torture, fatal shootings by security forces, restriction on movement, expropriation of land and discrimination in planning and building in East Jerusalem, administrative detention, and settler violence.
Press conferences are often held when a new report is published. In addition, reports often lead to B'Tselem accompanying and assisting journalists reporting on human rights violations, and to other activities intended to affect public opinion in Israel.
Activity in the Knesset
B'Tselem regularly provides Knesset members with information on human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, and injustices caused by Israeli authorities. Several Knesset members, from various factions, assist B'Tselem in placing human rights matters on the public agenda and in safeguarding human rights.
Public action
B'Tselem has hundreds of supporters and volunteers who work to improve the human rights situation in the Occupied Territories. These activities include, in part, setting up information stands, distributing printed material, addressing problems and requests to decision-makers, and participating in protests in the Occupied Territories. [9]
The Israeli Human rights Groups & the War in Gaza :
During the war on Gaza all the listed above Israeli group and many other smaller groups like Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (http://www.stoptorture.org.il/en ) , Rabbis for Human Rights (http://rhr.israel.net/) , Yesh Din - Volunteers for Human Rights (http://www.yesh-din.org ) & The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (http://www.acri.org.il/ ) worked together in order to inform the Israeli public of the impact on civilians as they claim ,
Those groups established a blog on the net ( http://gazaeng.blogspot.com/) in 2 languages ( English & Hebrew ) which they feed with particularly regarding events that were not reported by the media. Each group posted the information at its disposal, which has been verified to its best ability under the circumstances. They also described the data in the Blog as necessarily limited and should not be taken as a comprehensive picture of the human rights violations currently taking place.
The blog header , http://gazaeng.blogspot.com/
The blog had a high percentage of viewers in few months that made Google gadget gives him relatively good ranking between the international web sites ( 6/10) even the site is a free blog and even that Upon the declaration of the cease-fire, all the groups h stopped the daily updates for the site , and even They declared that organizations will continue to use the Blog to provide information on the war and its consequences but nothing new were add to the site since that day and each group is continuing its own work within its policy alone .
The site contains information's about the death toll &Causalities in Gaza and the Israeli, it also contains testimonies from Palestinian civilians under the fire , and to be honest it helped forming the full story about what happened inside Gaza behind the cameras of the press , the site also contains Images and short Videos about the destruction in the ground inside Gaza , it also contains Testimonies from civilians and eyewitnesses in side gaza documented by those groups with headlines like :
- Soldiers kill and wound dozens from a single family
- Family flees from threat of bombing
- Vegetable merchant and young son killed in Israeli bombing of police building, Deir al-Balah
It also speak about suspicious events that they see could contains human rights violation like:
· Suspicion: Soldiers shot and killed man and his son in their home
· Suspicion: Soldiers shot Palestinian farmer to death without warning
It also contains information about the appeals those groups made during the War time which they insist in calling it ( Hostility actions ) which seems to be a legal description lighter than the WAR term ( which we think should be investigated because it seems to be in the Israeli army favor of avoiding legal discrimination in the front of international courts ) , and here a few examples for those appeals to the authorities :
- Stop use of GSS investigations to deter solidarity demonstrations
- All parties must stop targeting civilians ( this appeal make equal the two sides as violating the international laws and attacking civilians ).
- End U.S "lopsided response" to Gaza crisis
- Attacking civilian government institutions violates international humanitarian law
- Bombing civilian neighborhoods and killing and injuring civilians in Gaza constitute war crimes
Conclusion :
There is too many institutions and groups in Israel that was practicing deferent kind of activism , both pro War activism & anti war activism , only few of them was highlighted through this research because of the huge amount of information available about them , were apple to highlight deferent categories and types of those institutions and groups that cover the actions in Gaza war in deferent methods and for deferent purposes .
Those deferent institutions are functioning with a very good budget and have always a highly trained and educated teams that investigate every and each word before publishing it , they are also well connected with the world wide press and affective in reaching the communities they target .Emotional interaction is controlled and not used except when they need it to reach their goals and that gives them a privilege over the Palestinian institutions that most of them work in a very low budget with un trained teams emotionally driven ,
And even part of those4 groups seems to be a pro Palestinian groups act to help Palestinian civilians in the ground , but they are still part of the Israeli propaganda which tries to draw a Democratic image for this state which is considered by the Palestinians and a big section of the world public realm as a racist criminal country .
Other groups acts to show the humanitarian side in the Israeli front , neglecting the Palestinians side and eliminating the presence of Palestinians and hiding their agony and stereotyping the image of Palestinians as terrorists and criminals , the other kind of those groups are the official groups which insist that this war on Gaza strip is part of a self defense act against the Palestinian attacks and try to prove that all the civilian causalities are part of the collateral damage .
Its seems to be clear that all those deferent institutions and groups are will organized well connected and complete the work of each other in order to keep a balanced image of the state of Israel , and for sorry the work of the Palestinian groups are scattered , in complete , and un professional most of the time , and almost an individual work that cant affect the global public realm in a good way and even takes a great part of its information's from the Israeli human rights groups without auditing it .
The end
[1] IDF spokesperson web site , 4/2009 ,http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/units/branches/amatz/Spokesperson/default.htm
[2]Unknown author , About haaretz , Haaretz web site , http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=51345&contrassID=2&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0
[3] AIPAC web site , http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC
[4]AIPAC web site , http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC/default.asp
[5] UJC web site , about us , http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=78440
[6] UJC web site , http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=191273
[7] Adalah web Site , About Adalah, http://www.adalah.org/eng/about.php
[8] Bimkom website , about us , http://eng.bimkom.org/
[9] B'Tselem web site , about us , http://www.btselem.org
