Are human rights groups prioritizing optics over impact?

Human rights organizations help shape the world's understanding of conflicts, including the one between Israelis and Palestinians. Some of the biggest groups, especially Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, are immensely influential in government, the media and civil society in Western countries. And for decades, their expertise, detailed reports and moral reputations made them agents of positive change.

But signs are mounting that that's changing, and you don't have to be Israeli to notice it. They publish fewer professional reports, conduct fewer serious investigations, and have shifted their focus to partisan activism. They are often more quick to issue statements on climate issues or police violence in American cities or systemic racism or gender identity than the old bread-and-butter questions on which they built their reputations: international law, war and repressive regimes.

And they have become partisan to the point of often failing that old fundamental mission. One startling example: Amnesty International continues to refuse to publish its report about the October 7 massacre over two years after the event. According to emails from some of the organization's top leaders, they are concerned that such a report about Hamas's egregious human rights abuses might help Israel make the case that Hamas are...well, serial and egregious human rights abusers.

This goes beyond criticizing Israel, which any organization can and should do, to an inability to criticize Hamas.

What happened? How did these organizations become so partisan and polarized, to the point that their original missions are no longer their top priority? How does the severing of ties with Israel's domestic human rights activists - Amnesty abruptly shut down its Israel chapter last year, even as those Israeli activists were stridently critiquing the war in Hebrew to Israelis - serve the cause of human rights or help Palestinians?

We asked two former staffers at Amnesty and HRW, Daniel Balson and Danielle Haas, whether these organizations have lost their way; and if so, what caused it; and how the cause of human rights might be reclaimed from the political partisans who have steered it so far into the culture wars.

This episode was sponsored by the Kleinman family of Manhattan, who asked to dedicate the episode to the memory of the 64 residents of Kibbutz Kfar Aza killed and the 19 kidnapped on October 7. The asked to add in their words: "After a recent visit to the kibbutz and spending time with one of the few remaining residents, we were overwhelmed by the devastation and meaningless loss of life. The destruction in the 'youth' section was particularly horrendous given the proximity to the Gaza border. On the other hand, we were impressed by stories of the bravery of the members of the community who tried to defend against the terrorists. We support the rebuilding of the kibbutz and those members of the kibbutz who decide to return and rebuild. We also pray for the return of the bodies of the hostages still being held in Gaza.”

Thank you to the Kleinman family for their support and their dedication.

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Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.