Not A Nice Story!

When I'm through with this, you'll be shocked, just SHOCKED at the extent of my hypocrisy...

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A
I

These initials are pregnant with meaning.

Some of us would immediately associate them with Artificial Intelligence.

For others, the meaning that first comes to mind is almost as sinister - Amnesty International.

I happen to belong to those "others". And for a very good reason. I, myself, personally AM part of the Evil that Amnesty International has become....

How so? - you might ask...

Well, it's a long story... We'll have to go back in time more than five years... I was a high school sophomore. I was doing an Honors Humanities concentration, and loving every minute of it. I was also a complete pacifist, who was against violence in any form. As part of our education, we had to read the International Section of the NY Times every week, and write about one story we considered important, explaining why, and also talking about the reporter's views on the issue. From the beginning I chose to follow the conflict with Hizbullah, and later the Second Intifada. And faithfully followed it for the rest of the year.

The issue inflamed me, opened my eyes to the horrors being perpetuated in the Middle East, and awakened my interest in the region. At the same time, however, I felt utterly helpless. So many people being killed, and there was nothing I could do about it! My teachers were very fascinating, erudite individuals... who were also very liberal. At the end of the year, we had a last class with my English teacher, and there was nothing much left to do. We finished our curriculum and were just hanging out, talking about our goals and dreams. We talked about various social and historical issues we touched on as Humanities students, and some of us, especially yours truly, took note of what was happening around the world in terms of human rights violations. Was there anything for us to do? It was at the time that I was first developing my interest in International Law, and being naive and idealistic refused to listen to my parents, and others, who warned me that the area dealing with Human Rights was especially politicized. I was sure that my parents were just crusty and cynical.

So I was practically begging my teacher to tell me what I could do. I was barely sixteen years old. I wanted some action, not just empty slogans. (Turned out later that empty slogans was all I got...) So my teacher suggested joining Amnesty International. The name rang a bell. I heard that AI won various awards as a defender of Human Rights. I was incredibly excited, but also anxious that I wouldn't be allowed to join because of my age. Well, as it turned out, even people younger than I were allowed to join, so it wouldn't be a problem. I ran home and ranted and raved before my family, who exchanged bemused looks. They knew what was coming. As soon as I could, I ran to the computer and joined. I felt an amazing sense of accomplishent with that simple act, because now, whatever AI would be doing, it would be in MY name.

I read accounts of torture. I signed letters and petitions. I followed seemingly amazing stories. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was really DOING something! And then, one day... after the Passover terror attack in Netanya, which killed 29 people, I saw a front-page statement by AI, which condemned Israel for the acitons it took in response, without mentioning a word about Palestinians. That should have been a warning bell... But it wasn't. Instead, I wrote a very polite e-mail to the organization. The next day, when I woke up, I saw that the statement was retracted, and AI mentioned being overwhelmed with protesting letters, and condemned the terror attack.

I was elated. Someone made an honest mistake, but the organization was not nearly as politicized as my parents insisted! Clearly, it was a very transparent and responsible organization, which paid attention to the public sentiments and did the best it could to corrects its mistakes! I loved AI more than ever, and continued following its work for years to come.

However, when I started college, I got drawn into other activities, became much more right-wing and a Zionist, got a new computer, and completely forgot about the site. It just slipped my mind so completely, that since the beginning of college I haven't visited the website even once. In fact, believe it or not, I *completely* forgot that I was listed as a member! Over the years, I joined the ranks of indignant individuals, completely outraged with the biased, one-sided, insensitive position Amnesty International adopted with respect to Israel, siding with similar "human rights" organization, the politization of which became increasingly. I couldn't imagine how anyone could even bring himself to joing AI, to sign his name to the malevolent statements the organization was making.

Today, while reading through the above-mentioned article, I thought: "Hey, wait a minute!"

That's right. All this time, just as I was condemning "them" for being so anti-Israel... I was one of "them". Having completely forgotten about the website, I didn't leave the list of members, and my name is still behind every single study and statement that the organization issues. Oh, the travesty! Oops. How does that make me look? I can't BELIEVE I could forget something like that... Ah, the urges of the youth... Such a stupid thing could ONLY have happened to me...

Hypocritical,
Irina