The World Jewish Congress (WJC) today dismissed the new Amnesty International report on Israel’s military conduct in the West Bank. “The IDF operates at the highest military standards and avoids at all costs any unnecessary loss of life, according to independent military experts,” WJC CEO Robert Singer said. “Amnesty International’s charges are tendentious and its conclusions unfair. Once again, the organization seems to be focusing far more on Israel than on pursuing its mission to expose egregious human-rights violators.”
In a report released Thursday, the London-based group alleged that Israeli troops were regularly using "excessive, reckless violence" in the West Bank. An Israeli government spokesman said the report “smacks of bias, discrimination and racism" and accused Amnesty of wanting to deprive Israel of the right to self-defense.
Amnesty International said it had documented the deaths of 25 civilians during this period, all but three of whom died last year. It alleged that in some cases there was evidence of willful killings, "which would amount to war crimes." The Israel Defense Forces dismissed the allegations, saying security forces had seen a "substantial increase" in Palestinian violence and Amnesty had revealed a "complete lack of understanding" about the difficulties soldiers faced.