Amal Clooney: A Figure of Hope for Everyone but the Palestinians

posted on: Apr 14, 2016

Photo from www.alaraby.co.uk

BY: Nisreen Eadeh/Staff Writer

In a shocking move, everyone’s favorite human rights activist couple is throwing a fundraiser for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with Haim Saban – an Israeli-American mogul and who considers himself a “protector of Israel.” The event is taking place at the Clooney mansion and costing $34,000 per person to attend, but the bigger cost is the Clooney’s reputation as a progressive, advocacy couple.

Hillary Clinton has strong relationships with both George Clooney and Haim Saban. Throughout Clinton’s campaign, George Clooney and wife Amal have been fundraising for her and attending her events, including one where the cost to sit at Clinton’s table was $353,000. Haim Saban is also contributing enormous amounts of money to the Clinton campaign, at least $6.4 million to be exact.

In return for Saban’s generous contributions, Hillary Clinton wrote an open letter to the billionaire, expressing her horror over the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and pledging to stop BDS in any way she can. Saban is also known as an advocate for “higher scrutiny” of Muslim Americans when he said last year: “I’m not suggesting we put Muslims through some kind of a torture room to get them to admit that they are or they’re not terrorists, but I am saying we should have more scrutiny.” Clinton has criticized Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz for calling on increased surveillance of Muslim Americans, yet is comfortable taking money from a man who shares those dangerous beliefs.

If Clinton becomes president, it’ll be donors like Saban who will be influencing U.S. policy toward Israel in ways that will further deteriorate Palestinian human rights and the prospect of a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Amal Clooney, on the other hand, is famous for being a human rights lawyer who has worked for the Syrian crisis, the Enron case, many United Nations-based human rights cases, and war violations in Gaza. Since marrying George, though, she has turned down a position on the panel to investigate Israeli and Hamas war crimes during the 2014 assault on Gaza.

At the time, Amal claimed she was too busy and supported the panel’s efforts, but if she is concerned about the future of Palestinians at all, then why would she agree to host an event with Saban? This man is a self-proclaimed “one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel.” It seems illogical for a human rights champion like Amal Clooney to agree to host a fundraising event for Hillary Clinton, knowing Saban is only supporting the candidate in order to influence presidential politics toward Israel in his favor.

The Clooney’s are known for being activists for LGBTQ rights, freedom of speech, climate change, and conflict victims. However, it’s become clear that the couple is progressive except on Palestine, a stance many Americans take in politics to avoid controversy. Being afraid of speaking out against the many heinous human rights and international law violations of Israel is one thing, but choosing to work with the people who are contributing to those violations is unforgivable.