2023-11-02 22:26:23
Question asked on Twitter (renamed X) on November 2.
You asked us about a statement by Ruth Elkrief in the 24h Pujadas program broadcast on LCI. Wednesday November 1, the former BFMTV and RTL denounced “the great silence of the NGOs” on the fate of the Israelis held hostage by Hamas since the attack of October 7. Hostages still currently held in the Gaza Strip, of which the Israeli army estimates that there are 242.
Ruth Elkrief deplores having noticed a lack of communication “on NGO sites”, while “hostage-taking is a war crime, therefore concerns NGOs in particular”. The journalist blames Amnesty International which, according to her, “takes the prize”, having issued “no condemnation of the massacres of October 17 (sic)”. “On the other hand,” adds Ruth Elkrief, “there is a flood of messages on the site to protect civilians whose deaths are due, I quote, to “Israeli apartheid”, to “Israeli crimes”… I will spare you the details. »
Except that it only takes a quick search on the social network X to come across several publications from Amnesty International calling for the immediate release of the hostages, as pointed out by Internet users this Thursday, November 2.
“Serious and false accusations”
By consulting the NGO’s website, we find various press releases highlighting the issue of hostages. As of October 7, a press release published on the Amnesty International website mentioned kidnappings of civilians and hostage-taking confirmed by the Israeli army, adding that they could “constitute war crimes”. October 10, a second communication reported the words of the secretary general of the NGO, Agnès Callamard: “All civilians held hostage must be released immediately, unconditionally, unharmed.” Another press release broadcast on October 12 demanded that “Palestinian armed groups” respond to “deliberate killings, kidnappings and attacks carried out indiscriminately against the Israeli civilian population”. The 12th always, Amnesty reiterated these positions: “All civilians who have been kidnapped, particularly children, must be released immediately. These crimes must be investigated as part of the International Criminal Court’s investigation into crimes committed by all parties to the current conflict.” And likewise in a more recent press release, posted online October 26, regarding the “immediate ceasefire” requested by Amnesty: “Hamas and all other armed groups must immediately and unconditionally release all civilian hostages and humanely treat all those held captive, including by providing them with medical care, while waiting for their release.” The NGO, contacted by CheckNews, indicates that in addition, a new press release discussing the fate of the hostages had been in preparation for several days.
“These accusations are very serious and factually false,” an Amnesty official told us. If Ruth Elkrief had really gone to our site, she would have quickly come across the press releases in which we denounce these crimes. The same source also refers us to the regular interventions in the media by representatives of the organization, during which it was reiterated that it calls for the release of the hostages – we can cite the passage from Nathalie Godard, director of the Action at Amnesty International France, on the air of France Interor that of Jean-Claude Samouiller, president of Amnesty International France, on BFMTV. The official contacted by CheckNews also refutes any accusation of bias: “As an NGO, our compass is international law, we are just there to document the obstacles to humanitarian law.”
Note that the term “apartheid”, mentioned by Ruth Elkrief, is indeed used by Amnesty to qualify Israeli policy in the occupied Palestinian territories. A semantic choice which had been strongly denounced by the Hebrew State in February 2022. The organization continues to use this word in the context of the ongoing conflict: “We once again call on Israel to end the sixteen-year-old illegal blockade of Gaza, as well as all other aspects of the security system. “Israeli apartheid imposed on all Palestinians,” reads one of the press releases mentioned.
“We bear witness to what we observe”
Another NGO singled out by Ruth Elkrief: Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The journalist explains that she found, on the organization’s website, “no trace of the hostages, and for example of their health situation or the medical aid they could provide them.” She also cites the testimony of one of the family members of hostages gathered at the National Assembly on Tuesday, who then regretted that “Doctors Without Borders did not [soient] not pronounced.” Contacted, a spokesperson for the NGO points out that, while understanding “the emotion and anguish of the families of the hostages”, “MSF is not involved in the negotiations for the release of hostages, nor in Gaza nor anywhere else in the world”, since “this activity is part of the mandate of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent”.
However, the humanitarian medical organization calls on “all parties to the conflict to spare the civilian population wherever they are”. It is in this sense that on October 18, MSF signed a petition from the citizen movement “United for Human Rights in the Israel-Palestine crisis” in favor of an immediate ceasefire. “During this ceasefire, we call on all parties, unconditionally, to […] release all civilian hostages, in particular children and the elderly,” we read in the text of the petition.
“Our communication on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is based – as everywhere else in our areas of intervention – on direct testimony from our staff on site, the people to whom we provide aid, and their entourage. We bear witness to what we observe and note where we intervene,” underlines Médecins sans frontières. To clarify its position on the subject of the hostages held by Hamas, the NGO informs us that it has integrated the elements sent to CheckNews in its “our answers to your questions” page.
“Top priority”
In the remainder of her speech, Ruth Elkrief would like to mention “in a nutshell” the ICRC, the International Committee of the Red Cross. The humanitarian aid association “has the mission of being neutral and helping, in particular with the release of hostages,” she introduces. Then Elkrief explains: “We know that she is linked to Hamas, in Gaza and Qatar, that she helped transport the first two American hostages released in Egypt, but nothing since.” However, Alyona Synenko, spokesperson for the ICRC currently based in Jerusalem, explained this morning on American public radio that Red Cross teams are working to “find the more than 200 hostages held by Hamas”. “The fate of the hostages and their families remains our absolute priority,” ICRC Director General Robert Mardini also declared yesterday. on ABC News.
“The fate of the hostages is one of our main priorities and we have not remained silent on this issue,” Alyona Synenko further insists to CheckNews. Among many other statements, the spokesperson cites a post shared on the official X account of the International Committee of the Red Cross which, from October 13wrote: “We demand the immediate release of the hostages held in Gaza and the carrying out of humanitarian visits in order to put them in contact with their families.” In its press release of October 20following the release of two hostages (moreover transported to Israel, and not to Egypt), the ICRC assured of its “unwavering commitment […] to help people who have been kidnapped, detained or disappeared. “So that more families can be reunited,” “the ICRC continues to call for the immediate release of all hostages.”
Statements and forum
The umpteenth correction made to Ruth Elkrief’s comments: “It is not true that only two hostages were released,” notes Alyona Synenko. Two other hostages were released, with our help as a neutral intermediary, October 23.” The ICRC spokesperson explains: “We continue to speak with Hamas at the highest level, insisting that the hostages be released and that we be allowed to visit all the hostages. We also stand ready, as a neutral intermediary, to provide medicine, facilitate communication between the hostages and their family members and, of course, enable a possible future release.” And specifies: “This work is done behind closed doors, not in the spotlight, because we speak confidentially and directly with those who have the power to change things.”
Alongside NGOs, Ruth Elkrief also calls into question Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, which is supposed to “commit to children’s rights all over the world.” “Today, there are 33 children among the 240 hostages, aged from 9 months to 15 years,” says the LCI columnist first, before continuing: “On the Unicef website, we find mentions general information on the Israel-Palestine war and the number of children affected. No “child hostages” banner, no paragraph dedicated to these children, and therefore no action taken in favor of these children.”
Except that on the same site, we also find a statement delivered on October 9 by Catherine Russell, Director General of Unicef, on the deteriorating situation for children in Israel and Palestine. “UNICEF calls on all armed groups […] to immediately and safely release children held hostage in Gaza so that they can reunite with their families or caregivers, said Catherine Russell. We also call on all parties to protect children under international humanitarian law.” This declaration was followed by a column published on the website of The Atlantic magazine on October 26, still written by Catherine Russell, where the director general of the UN agency “reiterates Unicef’s call for the immediate and safe release of all children held hostage in the Gaza Strip “. In a press release of October 30the executive director once again recalls that at least 30 Israeli children have been killed, and that at least twenty remain held hostage.
“Our position has been very clear from the start: nothing justifies the murder, mutilation or kidnapping of children – serious violations of human rights that we condemn without reservation,” adds Unicef to CheckNews .
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