How Israel Drags Down Human Rights Standards

Electronic Intifada quotes USCPR Director of Organizing and Advocacy Anna Baltzer on the aftermath of the January 25, 2018 rescinding of a universal human rights resolution by the New Orleans City Council.

The City Council rescinded the resolution under intense pressure from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans (JFGNO), simply because the resolution was introduced by a Palestine solidarity group which framed the resolution as a victory for Palestinian rights within the broader scope of human rights.

Perhaps the most telling moment in the whole race to protect Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights came when David Hammer of WWLTV reported that “the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans acknowledged that it supported the language of the resolution itself.” Nevertheless, it was one of the groups pushing for the measure to be overturned.

Anna Baltzer, advocacy director for the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, who was present in New Orleans, told The Electronic Intifada that such organizations “smear BDS precisely because they know they cannot successfully debate its true merits and goals in a court of public opinion.”

Read the article.