It began on Tuesday at 10 AM, when the Islamic Jihad—by then about five hours into its retaliation campaign against Israel for taking out one of its more troublesome thugs, one Baha Abu Al-Atta—misfired a rocket which, instead of flying across the border into civilian homes in Israel, flew across the street into the fifth floor of the Al-Harara office building in the heart of Gaza City, near the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Turns out the fifth floor across the street from the PLC was home to the Independent Commission for Human Rights, the national human rights institution of Palestine, established in 1993 upon a presidential decree issued by the late chairman Yasser Arafat. It receives complaints from Palestinian citizens regarding human rights violation and handles them with official bodies.
Ouch.
Individual Arab Twitter accounts were quick to point the finger at Israel:
Israeli warplanes have just targeted the headquarters of The Independent Commission for Human Rights – ICHR – in Gaza. The working staff, luckily, was in a meeting on another floor.
This is a war crime and direct targeting of a Civil and Human Rights organizations in Palestine pic.twitter.com/y2uWKIze9r— Palestinian Voices (@FalastinVoices)
But Amira Haas, who represents the more militant Palestinian faction of Haaretz, reported that the reason she knows for sure this wasn’t an Israeli hit but a local failure was the fact that it wasn’t reported by the establishment Arab media. Al-Harara is a big building, she reasoned. You can’t have a rocket hit such a big building in downtown Gaza City and folks wouldn’t notice. But it was self-censored, the way Arab media self-censor even the weather if it makes their side look bad.
Not so Amnesty International, which has long since joined the worst elements on the planet to attack the Jewish State. The group tweeted Tuesday night: “We strongly condemn attack on the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights whose office in Gaza was struck by an Israeli missile earlier this morning. Strikes targeting civilian buildings is a violation of international law. We are sending our solidarity to @ICHR_Pal.”
We strongly condemn attack on the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights whose office in Gaza was struck by an Israeli missile earlier this morning. Strikes targeting civilian buildings is a violation of international law. We are sending our solidarity to .
— Amnesty International (@amnesty)
But Trey Yingst, foreign Correspondent for Fox News, tweeted a speedy response: “Israel did not strike this building. A rocket misfired from Gaza. I was across the street when it happened.”
Israel did not strike this building. A rocket misfired from Gaza.
I was across the street when it happened. https://t.co/co73PIQooc
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst)
Now we’re waiting for an Amnesty retraction. And, naturally, the arrival of the messiah. Whichever happens first.