International Human Rights Day 2007 – There's nobody Israelis like to complain about quite like their own human rights groups.
Often accused of aiding the enemy while ignoring attacks on Israelis, these organizations have chosen the UN-endorsed Human Rights Day to defend their policies.
"It is our duty to make our voice heard. We try to make a difference locally but sometime we have no choice but to report to UN organizations," says Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI )director Rachel Benziman as she explained why her group and others often report alleged violations of human and civil rights to international organizations instead of dealing with the matter internally.
"Israelis think that the State respects human rights, but this is not the case. Many of us have witnessed these violations and have even sometimes fallen victim to them – but we think there is simply nothing we can do about it."
Palestinian women in the West Bank (Photo: AP)
While she says she is aware of the biased attitude many international institutions consider Israeli affairs with, Benziman says that sometimes – especially when it comes to politically-charged issues or a case where there is a need to expedite the investigation process - Israeli human rights organizations must use international bodies as a leverage to pressure local authorities.
'Israel deprives rights not only from minorities'
Executive director of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Hadas Ziv believes that the state of human rights in Israel has been steadily deteriorating over the past seven years.
"Since 2000 there has been a process wherein not only the minorities are pushed out of Israel society, the Palestinians and the Arabs, but also the weaker sectors of the public – the poor and those who are considered less productive members of society," she says.
According to Ziv Israeli rights groups are first and foremost interested in engaging the Israeli public. "But," she says, "when it comes to the groups whose rights are the most trampled on – Palestinians and Bedouins from unrecognized villages - we must go to outside organizations.
"While we prefer to do our dirty laundry at home, sometimes there isn't a washing machine so we must head to the Laundromat."
Ziv says she objects to the claim that Israelis would rather turn a blind eye to human rights abuses. "The public is not to blame for the way it has been manipulated by the government."
Israeli organizations are members of a network of international human rights organizations and sit on various committees and forums - including the European Union and European Parliament.
Sharon Roffe-Ofir contributed to report