LiveBlogging Ken Roth

Prof. Jon Adler of Case Western is liveblogging Human Rights Watch’s Kenneth Roth as he delivers a lecture at Case Western Reserve University Law School. He addresses many topics, but here is one we tackled here on this blog last summer.

Roth defended HRW against charges of bias in its reporting on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. According to Roth, HRW’s allegations against Israel, such as for indiscriminate bombing of southern Lebanon at the close of the conflict, were accurate, and that Israel’s conduct was clearly contrary to human rights principles. Roth acknowledged that most of Israel’s attacks were precision attacks, and said that there was indeed evidence that Hezbollah did use civilian cover in some instances, but that Israeli attacks still produced substantial civilian casualties. According to Roth, Israel effectively treated parts of southern Lebanon as a “free-fire zone.” Faced with these charges, Roth noted, Israel and its defenders attacked HRW, often with “garbage” and “not honest” arguments against HRW’s reports. (My co-blogger David Bernstein may have a different perspective on this issue.)

Check it out!