too-familiar spokesman for the Israeli government, has been pedaling as fast as he can ever since Human Rights Watch released a report in which it cited several incidents of Israeli soldiers opening fire on unarmed residents who were waving white flags during Israel's assault on Gaza late last year. Regev has been attacking the HRW, one of the most respected non-governmental agencies dedicated to protecting rights of people irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds and nationalities. HRW, of course, is not infallible and it has made mistakes in the past, mistakes to which it has readily admitted once full evidence was presented. But it is an organization whose conclusions are far more credible than those reached by the Israeli government when it claims that it is investigating accusations against its own. Attacking the messenger and not the message - the classic “fallacy of the ad hominem argument” - is a diversionary tactic aimed at transferring the argument away from the search for truth. If enough aspersions are cast at those supporting one side of the argument, observers may well ignore the legitimate argument raised. So, Regev continues to cast aspersions on the HRW without speaking directly to the accusations made by eyewitnesses of the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza. By now the entire world is quite aware of the complete violation of human rights that Israel has committed in Gaza ever since its so-called liberation from Israeli occupation. Food, medical and other supplies of daily life are blocked at the border as Israel enforces its embargo on trade with the strip. The embargo is clearly a collective punishment aimed at every living soul in Gaza. If anyone has lost credibility when it comes to investigations into the Gaza Strip, it is clearly the blatant oppressor, Israel. __
