Read Daniel Levy on the Human Rights Watch pseudo-scandal. His piece is a calm, refreshing departure from some of the invective — which, admittedly, I’ve hurled — around this issue, and it essentially urges certain ostensible supporters of Israel to stop sniping at Human Rights Watch and other humanitarian NGOs who find problems with Israel’s human rights record.

[M]aybe, just maybe, something troubling from a human rights perspective might be taking place in Gaza and the rest of the occupied territories. This is a case of "shoot the messenger" on steroids. What happened to Gaza during Operation Cast Lead is being revealed not only by international sources, but also by Israeli sources, including this latest report from Israeli combat soldiers of the Breaking the Silence group, a collection of testimonies by Israeli combatants who served in Gaza.

Unfortunately, Israel did not — as was recommended by Israeli human rights groups including B’tselem — conduct its own credible state inquiry into the Gaza events. By leaving the Israeli Defense Forces to conduct their own cursory, closed, and, ultimately, not credible investigation, Israel has sent the signal to the international community, and notably to the human rights NGO community, that it will not do the job — that they will have to. 

Full disclosure: Levy is on the advisory board of J Street, and I’ll be speaking about shtetl politics in the age of Obama at a J Street happy hour on Thursday at the Sign of the Whale. Let’s talk more about this there.