Where have all the Human Rights NGOs gone?

A new post highlights something which should not come as much of a surprise, but needs to be restated once again. And what might that be? That when it comes to Human Rights NGOs, there is only one party they can both regularly, and safely point their fingers at, irrespective of the truthfulness of their accusations, Israel. Unfortunately, for citizens of the West's partners in the region, "missing in action", might be the most charitable way to describe the silence of the high profile NGOs in this region, when it comes to actual abuses, as Khaled Abu Toameh writes:

In the past two weeks, Palestinian Authority policemen, who are trained and funded by Americans and Europeans, arrested three journalists for allegedly "extending their tongue" against Abbas and Palestinian government officials.

One of those arrested is journalist and blogger Ismat Abdel Khalik, a single mother of two from the West Bank.

Her crime was that she posted a comment on Facebook that denounced Abbas as a "traitor" and "fascist" and called for dismantling the Palestinian Authority.

Abdel Khalik, who is also a university lecturer, is now facing trial for "extending her tongue" against the Palestinian president. She is being held in solitary confinement in a Palestinian prison.

Abdel Khalik's relatives and friends said that she was hospitalized shortly after her arrest because of her deteriorating health.

Some of her colleagues complained that international human rights organizations have refused to endorse her case out of fear of alienating the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank.

Abdel Khalik would have been more fortunate had she been arrested by Israel. Then she would have been depicted by the Western media as a hero and the UN Human Rights Council would have held an emergency session to condemn Israel and call for her immediate release.

Concerning the "Human Rights" NGOs, what comes to mind is a line from a well known song, "And no one dared, disturb the sound of silence".

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