Christian Aid made bogus Israel sex abuse claim

From the Jewish Chronicle



Christian Aid has apologised “unreservedly” for falsely claiming that Israeli settlers had sexually abused Palestinian children in Hebron.

The allegations came after Miranda Pinch, a social worker from Winchester, had travelled to the West Bank town in January to “monitor human rights abuses” as part of an accompaniment programme part-funded by the charity. The 59-year-old returned from the trip and reported to Christian Aid that a Palestinian headmistress had made allegations of verbal abuse. [So we're talking of second-hand allegations of verbal abuse.]

But when promoting Ms Pinch’s trip, Christian Aid said the headmistress had alleged that “some of the children had been sexually abused on their way home” by Israeli settlers.

Asked how the charity had come to make such an extreme and false claim, Ms Pinch said the organisation had apparently “lost their notes” and that she had clearly explained that she was talking only of verbal abuse.

Professor Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, attacked Christian Aid, saying the claims were part of a trend of demonising Israel.

“This is not an isolated incident but part of a series of events. Christian Aid has allowed itself to be used as a channel for some very crude anti-Israel propaganda.

“When it happens more than once then there is something more fundamental that Christian Aid needs to sort out. Almost any claim is now believed or promoted by NGOs without anybody checking the details.

“It’s in the culture at Christian Aid and they need an intense house-cleaning to end it. It’s an escalating and worrying situation.”

In a statement, Christian Aid admitted it should have described the alleged incidents as having involved “verbal sexual harassment”.

“We unreservedly apologise for misreporting an interview with Miranda Pinch, an English social worker who travelled to the West Bank with ecumenical accompaniers whom we support.

“Verbal sexual harassment is clearly different from sexual abuse and we apologise for the inaccurate representation of what Ms Pinch said.”

In the late seventies my father's advertising agency (proudly named Cohen and Company), was hired by Christian Aid, and the memory of that period has pleasant associations for us. My Dad came up with some great double-entendre slogans for their African campaign, like "The real share issue" (very topical at the time), "More power to their... elbow", and "Flour power".

It's sad to see them politicized.