Amnesty International's ill-suited spokesmodel

Amnesty International features Gaza "social media activist' Farah Baker on its Facebook page, as an example of the deprivation and suffering in the coastal enclave.  Its a curious choice.

Farah is a member of Gaza's social media club and has a highly visible presence on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The newly engaged 20 year-old has done a fine job chronicling the life of a well-off teenager Gaza.

Farah Baker, rather than being a poster child for the impoverished of Gaza, instead is an example of the privilege and position that exist for the elite of Gaza, making it no different than any other society.

Farah and her I phone have given us a glimpse of the Gaza beyond the staged media reports

Gaza is not simply the land of eternal victimhood- of refugee camps and ruin that Amnesty International wants you to imagine.  Its also a land of restaurants, resorts, and shops, as documented by Farah Baker and her I phone.  Farah has inadvertently given us a rare glimpse of reality of Gaza beyond the bias of Amnesty International. 

Amnesty International says Hamas abducted, tortured and killed Palestinians in 2014

Amnesty International has documented egregious human rights abuses committed by the terror group Hamas against its own citizens. The report, Strangling Necks’: Abduction, Torture and Summary Killings of Palestinians by Hamas Forces During the 2014 Gaza/Israel Conflict documents incidences of  Hamas's torture and murder of Palestinians during last summers' conflict

Those targeted by Hamas included members of the Fatah party and people accused of "collaborating" with Israel.  23 Palestinians were shot and killed by Hamas. 6 of them were publicly executed. 3 others died in custody shortly after their arrest. Dozens more were arrested and tortured.

According to Amnesty International:

Many of the arrests looked more like abductions – with armed men in civilian clothes,
sometimes masked, who did not present identification or a legal basis for arrest, forcing the
suspects into a car and taking them to locations unknown to their families. The suspects
would often be beaten in the car and the beatings would continue at the place of detention
and during the interrogation.

Testimonies gathered by Amnesty  indicate that victims of torture were beaten with truncheons, gun butts, hoses, wire, and fists. Others were also burnt with fire, hot metal or acid.

Read the full report here.