Amnesty International official is 'opposed' to Israel as a Jewish state

WASHINGTON (JTA) — An Amnesty International official said that the organization is opposed to Israel continuing to exist as a Jewish state.

“We are opposed to the idea — and this, I think, is an existential part of the debate — that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people,” Paul O’Brien, the human rights monitor’s U.S. director, said in a luncheon this week with the Women’s National Democratic Club in Washington D.C.

Jewish Insider first reported the remarks.

O’Brien said late Friday on Twitter that his remarks had been removed from context, although he did not contest the...