The Oct. 14 appearance of Hagai El-Ad, the executive director of the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories — B’Tselem, before the UN Security Council to address the twin issues of Jewish construction in the occupied territories and the demolition of Palestinian homes there generated a slew of Israeli condemnations against Israeli peace and human rights groups.
B’Tselem was castigated not only for airing Israel’s dirty laundry on the world stage, but also for crossing the line between legitimate objective reporting of Israeli human rights abuses in Area C, which is under Israeli control, and actively encouraging the international community to do something about it.