By, Naomi Firsht
1 min read
ByNaomi Firsht, Naomi Firsht
The Israeli embassy has complained to Amnesty UK over a series of anti-Israel tweets posted by one of its senior officials.
Eitan Na’eh, charge d’affaires at the embassy sent a letter to Amnesty UK director Kate Allen after campaigns manager Kristyan Benedict posted about the arson attack on a Palestinian home in the village of Douma last week which resulted in the death of a baby.
One of the tweets read: “Palestinian baby burned to death in settler attack. They see their government getting away with murder every day.”
Mr Benedict later retweeted a post by Hamas relating to “Israel’s war crimes”.
Mr Na’eh expressed dismay at the tweets, writing that Mr Benedict had “exploited the horrible murder of Ali Dawabsha in order to incite against Israel.
“The incidents reflect extremely unprofessional conduct, which has direct bearing on Amnesty’s credibility as an international human rights organisation. Even more worryingly, they reflect a willingness to incite against Israel in the most hateful manner imaginable, while promoting and affirming the twitter account of a recognized terror group.”
Mr Benedict has come under fire in the past for promoting anti-Israel rhetoric, most recently at the end of last year when he used a Twitter hashtag that compared Israel to Islamist terror organisation Daesh.
In 2012 Mr Benedict was forced to apologise after an Amnesty International disciplinary process concluded that his tweet about three Jewish MPs was “inappropriate and offensive”, but not antisemitic.
During a Parliamentary debate about the violence in Israel and Gaza he wrote: “Louise Ellman, Robert Halfon and Luciana Berger walk into a bar…each orders a round of B52s … #Gaza”. He was immediately criticised for only naming Jewish parliamentarians.
A selection of the tweets:
Palestinian baby burned to death in settler attack. They see their government getting away with murder every day. pic.twitter.com/PTDvkeziJP
— kristyan benedict (@KreaseChan) July 31, 2015
Israel is still killing people in Gaza - 4 more dead & dozens injured as Israeli ordnance explodes. http://t.co/nqryA5z7N4 #ICC
— kristyan benedict (@KreaseChan) August 6, 2015
Gaza: Israel deliberately destroyed homes full of civilians. Our report details the war crimes http://t.co/cPcaUCwAhL pic.twitter.com/O8yD1bS6sa
— kristyan benedict (@KreaseChan) November 5, 2014
