Steven Cook, an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, published a blog post today questioning the criticism Ken Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, leveled at Israel for sending aid to earthquake-stricken Nepal.

Roth had tweeted last week, “Easier to address a far-away humanitarian disaster than the nearby one of Israel’s making in Gaza. End the blockade!,” opening him and his organization up to an outpouring of ridicule.

Cook noted that since Israel withdrew from Gaza, 15,000 rockets had been fired from the coastal enclave on the Jewish state; Nepal, in contrast, has never attacked Israel. Cook also noted that there is no current conflict between Israel and Nepal, but there is still an ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Cook added that Roth undermines his organization’s credibility by engaging in such baseless criticism.

Maybe Roth meant that the Israelis should not receive credit for their humanitarian work in Nepal because of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. If that is what he meant, I am not sure why. I don’t mean to pick on Roth, yet he does a disservice to both himself and his organization with the kind of ill-considered tweet like the one cited above. When the executive director of Human Rights Watch criticizes the Israelis for providing humanitarian relief it actually makes it easier to dismiss his criticism of Israel’s human rights record. One is left to assume that any censure coming from Roth and his team is driven not by the principles laid out in HRW’s mission statement, but rather by animus.

[Photo: Israel Defense Forces / Flickr ]