Executive Director of Amnesty USA says Israel “shouldn’t exist as Jewish state” before retracting his statement
The Executive Director of the human rights activist organisation Amnesty USA has come under fire for reportedly claiming that Israel “shouldn’t exist as Jewish state”, before trying to clarify his remarks.
The Jewish Insider reported that Paul O’Brien made the comments in a speech given to the Washington DC-based Woman’s National Democratic Club.
His speech was reported to have included claims about what most American Jews think of Israel and what kind of country they want the Jewish state to be, citing and querying existing polling data.
Mr O’Brien reportedly asserted that the majority of American Jews would prefer Israel to be a “safe Jewish space” organised around “core Jewish values” rather than a Jewish state.
Although Mr O’Brien said that Amnesty International, which has recently and controversially characterised Israel as an “apartheid state”, acknowledges that Israel exists and holds no official opinion about the right of the Jewish people to self-determination, he is reported to have said: “I believe my gut tells me that what Jewish people in this country want is to know that there’s a sanctuary that is a safe and sustainable place that the Jews, the Jewish people can call home…I think they can be convinced over time that the key to sustainability is to adhere to what I see as core Jewish values, which are to be principled and fair and just in creating that space.”
The Executive Director of pro-Israel group Zioness said to Jewish Insider that “It is disturbing that Amnesty, which ostensibly exists to advance global human rights, could so casually deny the inalienable rights of safety and sovereignty to a nation as persecuted as the Jewish people.”
According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is an example of antisemitism.
William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, tweeted that: “It is clear that [Amnesty International’s] true vision is a Middle East without Israel as a Jewish state.”
Mr O’Brien then took to Twitter to “clarify” his remarks. He argued that the Jewish Insider had taken his comments “out of context”, claiming that he was not referring to the existence of the Jewish state, but specifically to Israel’s 2018 Nation State law, which defined Israel as “the nation-state of the Jewish people.”
Jewish Insider later published the full audio recording and transcript of Mr O’Brien’s speech, defending its reportage of his comments.
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