“The terrorist group Hamas operates at an unimaginable level of evil, is sponsored by Iran, and exists to exterminate the Jewish people and wipe Israel off the face of the map,” International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) president Chris Field wrote in a letter to Israel’s ombudsman last week.
The IOI is a 45-year-old organization that brings together more than 200 independent ombudsman institutions from more than 100 countries worldwide. In its effort to focus on good governance and capacity building, the institute supports its members in three ways: training, research, and regional subsidies for projects.
“There can be no false moral equivalences in the lawful and correct response of Israel to those who came to slaughter the Jewish people,” the letter to Israel’s State Comptroller and Ombudsman Matanyahu Englman said. “No international body should be allowed to falter in their resolve to eradicate a body that actually pays their members to kill Jews. There can be no peace in the Middle East while terrorism and undemocratic representation of the peoples of Gaza seek to eliminate the Jewish people.”
Field, who is the ombudsman of Western Australia and is not Jewish, expressed his recognition that the Jewish community has endured centuries of persecution, antisemitism, and horrific events like the Holocaust. Therefore, he said, as president of an international human-rights body, his support would be “unambiguous, unequivocal and undeterred.”
Field said he would like to visit Israel to “stand with you and to stand with the great democracy and developed nation that is Israel.”
The letter, which The Jerusalem Post reviewed, was sent in response to a letter from Englman, who approached Field and his colleague Rob Behrens, the parliamentary and Health Service ombudsman of the United Kingdom and vice president of IOI Europe.
Englman said he expected the IOI’s “unqualified support to Israel and its need to eradicate evil.”
Holding Hamas accountable
IOI Europe also issued a statement last week, calling on Hamas to be held accountable and for the Israeli hostages to be released.
“This is a time for us to support our international colleagues in the struggle for human rights,” IOI Europe wrote. “Israel must exercise its right to protect itself and to rescue hostages, and like all countries at war, do this without compromising its commitment to upholding international humanitarian law.”