New Amnesty leader calls BDS a tested “tool of resistance” | The Electronic Intifada
▻https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/new-amnesty-leader-calls-bds-tested-tool-resistance
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It will be interesting to see if Naidoo pushes Amnesty to take stronger positions on holding Israel accountable.
“Excessive force”
Last week, Amnesty urged Israel to avoid “excessive force” against Palestinians taking part in Great March of Return rallies in the occupied Gaza Strip.
Israel has killed dozens and injured thousands of unarmed protesters since 30 March.
“The Israeli authorities must respect the Palestinians’ right to peaceful protest and, in the event that there is violence, use only the force necessary to address it,” the group’s Magdalena Mughrabi stated. “Under international law, lethal force can only be used when unavoidable to protect against imminent threats to life.”
Amnesty relies on international law to defend Israel’s “right” to violence against an occupied people.
But while encouraging Israel to use less force against Palestinians, Amnesty acknowledges no Palestinian right to self-defense or resistance to occupation, only the right to “peaceful protest.”
Regardless of the intention, this effectively privileges and endorses Israeli violence – a perverse position for a human rights organization in the overall context of Israel’s regime of military occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid over Palestinians.
Yet the Palestinian right to self-defense and resistance – should Palestinians choose to exercise it – is clearly recognized by international law, if not by Amnesty International.