In the past I’ve wondered about the obsession with Israel by Human Rights Watch. Now I wonder again, due to the organization’s new 74-page report entitled, “Ripe for Abuse: Palestinian Child Labor in Israeli Agricultural Settlements in the West Bank.” Check out the HRW web site to see what subjects merit such lengthy coverage, and one finds that the answer again and again is Israel. In a world sadly filled with oppression, aggression, human rights abuses, and tyranny, HRW focuses on Israel to a degree that cannot be explained or defended. Like the United Nations, HRW seems dedicated to condemning Israel–and occasionally other countries. If you think Israel is not responsible for the bulk of worldwide human rights abuses, well, they seem not to agree.

The substance of the report consists of interviews with Palestinian laborers at Israel settlements in the Jordan Valley. That’s problem number one: where are the interviews with the Israelis, who are accused of various crimes and abuses–and who might wish to comment on, deny, or cast a different light on some of the allegations?  HRW did not consider that necessary. In fact there was an unofficial or semi-official Israeli response, published in The Times of Israel: