Jumping back in briefly, to follow-up on my earlier Quisling or Fifth Columnist remarks concerning this particular Israeli N(on) P(rofit) O(rganization)...
The long-standing conclusion that I have drawn - rightly or wrongly - from my own personal experience with with large-scale charity or social-services or advocacy NPO's here in the US - is that Advocacy or Rights organizations such as
B'teselm are usually directed and managed and largely staffed by humanists.
Such NPO's are usually more devoted to humanity-at-large than they are their own country and their own countrymen.
In theory, this is actually a good thing rather than a bad thing, but, in practice, this inherent Bias (or Anti-Bias) can sour and become highly problematic, and lead to a loss of objectivity and credibility - especially if the NPO is a One-Trick-Pony with a narrow range of focus, such as focusing exclusively upon one particular conflict or topical domain.
Such organizations do not remain on their feet for long unless there is something to fuss about; without ongoing controversy and nastiness to investigate and to trumpet or protest, there is no organization.
This can have the effect of slowly-but-surely slanting the nature of the Findings of the research and investigations of such NPO's - reaching more negative or damning or one-sided conclusions than might be obtained by bringing fresh faces and fresh minds to bear upon the investigation of a particular incident.
Conversely, there is something to be said in praise of experience in such investigations and research and publication and protest - nolo contendere - no contest - and it may prove accurate to posit that an experienced investigative body will do a better job of it than would a gaggle of amateurs or outsiders or novices.
But we need to be equally aware of the Justify-Our-Existence aspect of such long-standing groups - without something to fuss about, they go out of business - and, as much as we would all like to believe that all Human Rights Organizations are entirely objective and unbiased, the sad truth is that
everything is political -
including the operations and the outcomes produced by such NPO's.
This is not to say that such an NPO might not be entirely accurate and truthful and appropriate and professional in their research and investigations, and this is not to say that the conclusions they've drawn or the findings they've published pertaining to Incident A or B or C might not be dead-on-target... but we need to look at each and every Case, and we need to look at each and every set of Findings, with a keen eye, and to be aware of the inherent prejudices of the NPO, as well.
It's easy to dismiss the prejudices of an NPO as minimal or nonexistent because they often criticize their own government or military or policy, but a potential bias against one's own people holds its own prospects for problems with reliability and credibility and objectivity.
I have noticed two main schools of thought on this and other boards over time... the Internationalist School which ignores borders and 'local' loyalties in favor of humanity at large, and the Nationalist School which favors one's own country and countrymen.
Most of us here seem to belong to the Nationalist School which favors our own country and countrymen over others, but a lot of us are what I would term practitioners of a '
modified Nationalist outlook' - inclined and most frequently siding with their own folks, but capable of seeing the other side of the coin and even occasionally sympathizing with the other side; a healthy state of affairs that blends God-King-and-Country with some modern Global Village and Humanitarian thinking.
And I (
and I suspect, many others) would not have it any other way.
Nevertheless, folks tend to distrust people - or organizations (NPOs) - whose business is to find (or fabricate or warp or spin) material that becomes grist for the propaganda mills of the Enemy during wartime or times of Great National Danger.
In such circumstances - even when they're telling the truth - they come off looking like Traitors and Seditionists and Quislings and Fifth Columnists and Little Boys Who Cry Wolf All the Time.
It is even possible that the leadership and staff of such organizations are motivated in part by a fear of the other side eventually winning, and foolishly and spinelessly trying to hedge their bets to prove to the Victors on some future date that they were on the side of the Victors, all along, but that is - admittedly - stretching things more than a bit - even if it is worth mentioning in passing.
It is entirely possible that this Israeli NPO is upright and a straight-shooter and interested in nothing more than Truth and Justice and consequences be damned.
But it is also possible that they - themselves - are a mixed bag of motives and influences and goals - not all of them admirable nor forthright.
Nevertheless, and regardless...
When your Main Mission is to seek-out Wrongdoing by your own Defenders - and when these outcomes routinely become grist for the Enemy Propaganda Mill - you have an Image Problem.
This does not speak to "Truth", but it
does speak to how the "Truth" is
spun.
Or so it seems, to
this observer...
