O. M. G.: Amnesty International, Other "Human Rights Groups" Say Gilad Shalit Should Remain Illegally In Terrorist Jail

If you need a refresher, Hamas conducted a raid (probably illegal, as terrorists never wear uniforms) and snuck across the border, attacked an Israeli outpost, and kidnapped Gilad Shalit.

Wikipedia uses the word "capture." Um, yeah. Like Bruno Hauptman "captured" the Lindbergh Baby.

He has been held illegally for five years.

Those who "captured" him are making threats and demands, like legal armies always do.

Shalit's captors issued another demand to the Israelis, demanding that Israel release an additional 1,000 Palestinian prisoners (in addition to all female and young prisoners, as previously demanded) and end Israel's incursions into Gaza.[38] Two days later, the captors issued a 24-hour ultimatum for meeting their demands, threatening unspecified consequences if Israel refused.[39] Hours after the ultimatum was issued, Israel officially rejected the demands, stating that: "there will be no negotiations to release prisoners"

So, of course Amnesty International must protest this and demand his release, right?

Wrong.

If a better example of the utter moral collapse of the human rights community exists, it would be hard to find. The statement is one of passionless brevity — just a few sentences long — and expresses no opinion on the standing of Hamas, or on its 2006 raid into Israel, or on the legitimacy of its goals and methods. Remarkably, it doesn’t even demand the release of Gilad Shalit. The most that this allegedly courageous and principled human rights community could bring itself to say to the terrorists of Hamas is that they should improve the conditions of Shalit’s imprisonment.

I have noted this before -- numerous times before -- but when I was young and less wise, I read the James Bond books and thought parts of them were pretty silly.

Oh I don't mean the superhero stuff; obviously that's silly (though Bond is not a superhero in the books). But you expect that silliness; that's the whole point.

The parts I objected to as too silly were the background/setting bits that just struck me as implausible.

S.P.E.C.T.R.E., for example, disguised itself as an... international relief agency which provided charitable assistance and legal aid to "stateless persons" and political refugees.

How absurd, I thought, that a major criminal enterprise could hide in plain sight, and not only hide in plain sight, but receive contributions from well-intentioned dupes from around the world! How ridiculous that agents of international terrorism (that's what the "T" stands for in SPECTRE) could pose as bleeding-hearts agents of compassionate relief! That a major international charitable institution could be captured wholly by terrorists, thugs, and criminals!

Yes. How supremely ridiculous. What a hack that Ian Fleming was.

An American Continues Being Held By Terrorists: Sgt Bowe Bergdahl has been held by an Al Qaeda linked network for two years now.

While it's unclear where the 25-year-old soldier is being held, a video released on the Internet last month shows him standing next to a senior official in the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network in Paktika province in Afghanistan.

I had forgotten this, and feel shame that I did. Thanks to GnuBreed for reminding me.

Amnesty International

If donating directly to Al Qaeda and Hamas feels too risky and too dirty to you, try us! We have Bono.

posted by Ace at 04:35 PM

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