Amnesty International UK announced a new line of merchandise on Monday titled "End Israeli Apartheid."
The announcement was made by Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK campaign manager for Israel/Palestine and Syria, over Twitter.
"New Amnesty UK T-shirts, briefings, and other merch to support the #EndIsraeliApartheid global campaign - more coming soon," Benedict tweeted.
New Amnesty UK T-shirts, briefings, and other merch to support the #EndIsraeliApartheid global campaign - more coming soon.. pic.twitter.com/yurulFNeOD
— kristyan benedict (@KreaseChan) July 11, 2022
“Our campaign to help end Israel’s cruel system of apartheid against Palestinians has seen an excellent response from people who are opposed to racism and discrimination," Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK’s Crisis Response Manager, told The Jerusalem Post.
“We expect the t-shirts and other End Israeli Apartheid campaign products to be popular. The first set of t-shirts will be available in the coming days, with more in development in partnership with Palestinian artists.”
“Any suggestions that this is an attempt to destabilize Israel, or is antisemitic, are false and baseless, and represent a clear attempt to divert attention from the human rights abuses and violations suffered by the Palestinian people.”
Amnesty International
Amnesty and Israeli apartheid
The global human rights NGO Amnesty International has not been shy regarding its opinions of the Jewish state and what it has described as discriminatory practices against the Palestinians.
In a report released early in 2022, the NGO claimed it detailed "how the State of Israel has established a system of institutional discrimination, oppression and domination against the Palestinian people.
“Any suggestions that this is an attempt to destabilize Israel, or is antisemitic, are false and baseless, and represent a clear attempt to divert attention from the human rights abuses and violations suffered by the Palestinian people,” the report continued.
However, it faced widespread criticism both from Jewish NGOs and from governments.
Israel's Foreign Ministry was quick to criticize it.
“The report denies Israel’s right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people,” the Foreign Ministry said at the time as it called on the British-based group to rescind its 211-page report.
The US said attempts to label Israel as an apartheid state were absurd.
The NGO has also long faced accusations of engaging in antisemitism, though it fervently denies these allegations.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.