Human Rights Watch Finally Draws the Line

Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, gestures during an interview with Reuters in Geneva, Switzerland, January 12, 2021. Picture taken January 12, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Omar Shakir has served as Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s Israel/Palestine director for the past decade. In 2018, Israel revoked his work visa due to his support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, claiming that such activism conflicted with the neutrality expected of a human rights investigator.