Newspaper Article

This time, we found a willing ear

RAN YARON, Friedlander, Libby, Hary, Tania

2009

Overview

On the day we arrived in Washington D.C. - representatives of Israeli human rights organizations in town to brief decision-makers on the situation in Gaza - three simultaneous events were taking place: 1) readers of The Washington Post were waking up to a front page story describing the discovery of four small Gazan children stranded for days next to their dead mothers, prompting an unprecedented statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross that in this instance the IDF failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law; 2) the Red Cross and UNRWA were debating the halt of services in Gaza following several incidents in which their workers were attacked presumably by the IDF; and 3) the US House and Senate were expected to near-unanimously pass a resolution declaring their unwavering support for Israel and its military action in the Gaza Strip. ISRAELI HUMAN rights organizations, including PHR- Israel and [Gisha], have been attempting to engage American audiences on issues affecting the population in Gaza for some time, and fervently so ever since the closure of Gaza's borders in June 2007. We were accustomed to being received tepidly at best, with audiences disputing our messages when they weren't yawning at them, and journalists rejecting our stories when they weren't ignoring them outright. Gaza had become too complicated. Any statements made in support of civilians there were turned into support for Hamas, a vote for terror, a denunciation of Israel. What we found in Washington just a few days ago, in the House, Senate and State Department was quite a different story.

• Publisher: The Jerusalem Post Ltd
• Subject: Friedlander, Libby / Hary, Tania