Truthout is a vital news source and a living history of political struggle. If you think our work is valuable, support us with a donation of any size.

Two Human Rights Watch employees — the group’s entire Israel-Palestine team — resigned after senior staffers blocked a report calling Israel’s denial of Palestinian refugees’ right of return to their homeland a crime against humanity.

Jewish Currents’ Alex Kane reported Tuesday that HRW Israel-Palestine team lead Omar Shakir and assistant researcher Milena Ansari are stepping down over leadership’s decision to nix the report, which was scheduled for release on December 4. Shakir wrote in his resignation email that one senior HRW leader informed him that calling Israel’s denial of Palestinian right of return would be seen as a call to “demographically extinguish the Jewishness of the Israeli state.”

“I have lost my faith in the integrity of how we do our work and our commitment to principled reporting on the facts and application of the law,” Shakir — who is also member of Jewish Currents’ advisory board — wrote in his resignation letter. “As such, I am no longer able to represent or work for Human Rights Watch.”

In an interview published Tuesday by Drop Site News, Shakir — who was deported from Israel in 2019 over his advocacy of Palestinian rights — said: “I’ve given every bit of myself to the work for a decade. I’ve defended the work in very, very difficult circumstances … The refugees I interviewed deserve to know why their stories aren’t being told.”

I've resigned from @hrw after 10 yrs—most as Israel/Palestine Director—after HRW's new ED pulled a finalized report on the right of return for Palestinian refugees on eve of its release & blocked for weeks its publication in........

© Truthout