Remember Paul O’Brien, Amnesty International USA’s executive director who recently listened to his antisemitic gut that told him that the bulk of American Jews do not want Israel to be a Jewish state, but rather “a safe Jewish space” based on “core Jewish values.”?
Following the resultant backlash against him and his organization, O’Brien attempted to claim his comments were taken out of context.
Now he’s finally apologized:
In a letter to Jewish House Democrats, Amnesty International USA Executive Director Paul O’Brien apologized for “representing the views of the Jewish people,” responding to the members’ unanimous condemnation of his recent remarks that his “gut” tells him American Jews want “a safe Jewish space” rather than a Jewish state.
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In his response letter, dated March 25 and obtained by Jewish Insider on Thursday, O’Brien wrote, “I regret representing the views of the Jewish people. What I should have said is that my understanding from having visited Israel often and listened to many Jewish American and Israeli human rights activists is that I share a commitment to human rights and social justice for all with Jewish Americans and Israelis.”
And who are these “many Jewish American and Israeli human rights activists” to whom he has listened? Clearly they include Israel-haters Lara Friedman and Peter Beinart:
It is no wonder he doubles-down on the discredited antisemitic Amnesty report accusing Israel of apartheid:
In the letter, O’Brien also defends Amnesty International’s report accusing Israel of apartheid, to which several of the lawmakers had objected, in part by attacking the Israeli government.
“We recognize apartheid is a powerful word for a serious crime and we don’t use it lightly,” he said. “In recent months, the Israeli government has intensified its efforts to censor and discredit anyone who uses the word ‘apartheid,’ instead of engaging with the substance of our findings, and the findings of a number of Israeli and Palestinian groups.”
By suggesting the Israeli government merely “discredits anyone who uses the word ‘apartheid,’ instead of engaging with the substance of our findings”, O’Brien is disingenuously ignoring the facts that so many Arab-Israelis – including Arab-Israeli lawmaker and Ra’am party head Mansour Abbas – rejected it, Amnesty’s own Israel head rejected it, as well as ignoring cogent analyses rebutting the substance of its findings.
O’Brien knows where he can stick his “apology.”
