CBNNews.com—JERUSALEM—The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has sharply criticized the London-based human rights group Amnesty International (AI) after it called for a global arms embargo against both Israel and the Palestinians for their military activities in and around the Gaza Strip.  In a statement Monday, ADL Director Abe Foxman said, "In calling for an arms embargo of Israel, Amnesty International is doing nothing short of denying Israel the right to self-defense, an internationally accepted right of every sovereign nation."

AI issued a 38-page report Sunday, urging the United States to stop all arms sales to Israel.  AI's Middle East Director Malcolm Smart called for the "UN Security Council to impose an immediate and comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian-armed groups."

Foxman called AI's report "pernicious and biased."  He added, "The report omits any mention of Hamas' use of civilian shields, or tactics of basing their operations in the midst of population centers, in mosques, hospitals, schools and UN facilities."

Israel's Foreign Ministry also blasted the report, and in a withering editorial called "No Pardon for Amnesty, The Jerusalem Post wrote that Amnesty International had called for the destruction of Israel.  The newspaper published the names of the governing and funding board members of AI, asking whether the individuals on the boards were in favor of the embargo.

Sources:  The Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz