{"id":1719,"date":"2018-05-11T08:26:34","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T08:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=1719"},"modified":"2018-05-11T08:26:34","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T08:26:34","slug":"human-rights-watch-israel-attempting-to-shut-down-human-rights-record-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2018\/05\/11\/human-rights-watch-israel-attempting-to-shut-down-human-rights-record-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Watch: Israel attempting to shut down human rights record criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

A prominent\u00a0human rights\u00a0group accused\u00a0Israel\u00a0on Wednesday of attempting to “shut down criticism” of its rights record after its local director was ordered to leave the country within 14 days.<\/p>\n

Israel’s interior ministry opted not to sign off on a work permit renewal of\u00a0Omar Shakir –\u00a0Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director – on\u00a0May 7\u00a0over his alleged support for the\u00a0Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.<\/p>\n

Both HRW and Shakir\u00a0deny\u00a0having any part in the movement.<\/p>\n

Israel considers BDS –\u00a0which demands an end to the occupation of\u00a0Palestine, equal rights for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the right of return for all Palestinian refugees to their homes – to be anti-Jewish.<\/p>\n

‘Muzzling criticism’<\/h2>\n

Iain Levine from Human Rights Watch said in a\u00a0statement\u00a0on Tuesday the move was an attempt to “muzzle” the\u00a0non-governmental organisation.<\/p>\n

“This is not about Shakir but rather about muzzling Human Rights Watch and shutting down criticism of Israel’s rights record,” Levine said.<\/p>\n

“Compiling dossiers on and deporting human rights defenders is a page out of the Russian or Egyptian security services’ playbook.”<\/p>\n

Israel denied a request from HRW last year for a permit to employ Shakir, an American citizen, as a foreign expert,\u00a0prompting criticism from the\u00a0United States, before later approving a one-year work visa.<\/p>\n

Interior Minister Arye Dery said information collected on Shakir indicated he was active in BDS.<\/p>\n

“It is inconceivable for a boycott activist to get an Israeli visa so he can do whatever he can to harm the country,” Dery said in a statement.<\/p>\n

‘Disreputable state’<\/h2>\n

HRW’s Executive Director Kenneth Roth accused Israel of trying to “silence” the organisation.<\/p>\n

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In a joint\u00a0<\/span>statement\u00a0on Wednesday, 15\u00a0Israeli human rights groups condemned Israel’s decision to expel Shakir.<\/span><\/div>\n
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“Israel’s decision to deport a Human Rights Watch official – and the growing list of people to whom it denies entry for criticizing of the occupation – place Israel squarely on a list of disreputable states,” it said.<\/span><\/div>\n
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“The governments of such states try to control people’s minds, thoughts and actions, instead of safeguarding people’s freedom of speech, and their freedom to act and protest government policies.”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/article>\n
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A prominent\u00a0human rights\u00a0group accused\u00a0Israel\u00a0on Wednesday of attempting to “shut down criticism” of its rights record after its local director was ordered to leave the country within 14 days. Israel’s interior ministry opted not to sign off on a work permit renewal of\u00a0Omar Shakir –\u00a0Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director – on\u00a0May 7\u00a0over his alleged support for the\u00a0Boycott Divestment and… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[153,37],"class_list":["post-1719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-human-rights","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1720,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions\/1720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}