Well copied from an op ed by Gerald Steinberg!

N.B.
'The next time any respectable news media outlet quotes or interviews Gerald Steinberg, I'd hope they'd note that his NGO Monitor was hauled into Israeli court for smearing the reputation of a Palestinian NGO by claiming that it "justified violence."
The group in question, the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ), whose purpose is to "promote applied research, technology transfers, sustainable development, and the self-reliance of the Palestinian people through greater control over their natural resources," did not take kindly to this libel and responded with a lawsuit.
Prof. Steinberg was forced to eat humblepie and released this "Correction" which should have also included the title "Apology:" '

article by Richard Silverstein


It seems unlikely that Garlasco is ever going to read this repetition of an attack on him from last year but he has defended himself elsewhere

The Huffington Post September 11, 2009

"I'm used to taking heat for my job as a military analyst for Human Rights Watch, because our findings that this government or that armed group has violated the laws of war frequently provoke accusations that we're biased or siding with the enemy.

Now I've achieved some blogosphere fame, not for the hours I've spent sifting through the detritus of war, visiting hospitals, interviewing victims and witnesses and soldiers, but for my hobby (unusual and disturbing to some, I realize) of collecting Second World War memorabilia associated with my German grandfather and my American great-uncle.
I'm a military geek, with an abiding interest not only in the medals I collect but in the weapons that I study and the shrapnel I analyze. I think this makes me a better investigator and analyst.
And to suggest it shows Nazi tendencies is defamatory nonsense, spread maliciously by people with an interest in trying to undermine Human Rights Watch's reporting

As an American child, I learned that Germans were the bad guys; as I got to know my grandfather, I realized that not all Germans were Nazis. Because of him, and my great-uncle, a gunner on an American B-17 bomber, I developed an interest in German and American war memorabilia, and I wrote a long monograph, published last year, on German Second World War Air Force and anti-aircraft medals

I told my daughters, as I wrote in my book, that "the war was horrible and cruel, that Germany lost and for that we should be thankful." I meant what I wrote. And because of the intense suffering during the Second World War and the genocidal campaign against the Jewish people, I spend my days doing what I can to ensure that such horrors are never allowed to happen again"


John H Richardson writing in Esquire October 13, 2009 asks
"Why Is This Good Man Getting Hung Out to Dry?

'Before becoming a human-rights worker, Garlasco worked in military intelligence.

Because of this unusual background, he has none of the lefty peacenik prejudices common to many human-rights workers. "Israel has every right to defend itself," he told me. "Not only a right, but an obligation to defend its people." Another time, he argued in favor of using bulldozers to clear a "free-fire zone." But Garlasco also criticized Israel for a number of human-rights violations, like "white flag killings" of people who were trying to surrender and using drones to kill too many people from a distance — including some twenty-five children.

BECAUSE OF THIS, AN ISRAELI ORGANIZATION CALLED NGO MONITOR HAS DECIDED TO TRY TO DESTROY MARC GARLASCO — NOT TO ARGUE WITH HIM OR DISPUTE HIS STATISTICS, BUT TO DESTROY HIM PERSONALLY.

Run by an Israeli academic named Gerald Steinberg, NGO Monitor is a rabidly partisan organization that attacks just about anyone who dares to criticize Israel on any grounds. It is dedicated to fighting "the narrative war," as Steinberg puts it in one editorial. ("Many Israeli Jews now realize that the narrative war threatens national survival.")

He has made a special project of attacking Human Rights Watch in editorials with titles like "Israel V. Human Rights Watch" and "Human Rights Watch has betrayed its original mission." H
e is so overwrought, he even attacks Jews who criticize Israel as "anti-Zionists" who are secretly in favor of "wiping Israel off the map."

Recently, Steinberg learned that Garlasco collects Nazi memorabilia. Garlasco also wrote a book about a certain kind of Nazi badge and made some goofy comments on collectors' Web sites about how his "blood ran cold" when he saw certain rare items, like a leather SS Jacket. There's a simple reason for this: Garlasco's grandfather was in the German Army, and the badge he collected happened to be his grandfather's unit badge.
Garlasco never hid this. When I first visited his home about three years ago, his grandfather's Nazi uniform was on display in a glass box. I didn't think there was anything particularly surprising about it — but then, my father was in the CIA, and I have CIA books and memorabilia coming out of my ears." '


Well Steinberg has had his 'victory' and Garlasco has resigned from Human Rights Watch so won't be publishing exposés on the use of White Phosphorus in Gaza City any more or on the 'Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip'

'Well done'!