Israel, The First Democracy To Deport Human Rights Watch

Israel is on its way to becoming the first democracy to expel a Human Rights Watch researcher, NGO director Kenneth Roth said on Sunday condemning Monday’s expulsion of his boss from Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Omar Shakir, a US citizen, has exhausted all his appeals to overturn his deportation, justified in Israel by a new law banning access to foreigners accused of supporting the boycott campaign of the Jewish state.

“I do not remember another democracy that blocked access to a Human Rights Watch researcher,” Roth said in statements to Nigeria News.

“It shows the increasingly restricted character of Israeli democracy,” he said.

Individuals have already been denied entry into Israeli territory since the new law came into force. But Omar Shakir is the first to be expelled from Israel under this measure in force since 2017, according to Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs.

At the end of 2018, the Israeli government had ended its residence permit, saying it was acting on the basis of information that it would support the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) campaign against Israel, which he denies.

“What Israel wants to do by expelling me is exactly what Syria, Egypt and Bahrain have done with me before,” said Shakir on Sunday, citing Venezuela, North Korea and Cuba among others. other countries that have expelled a member of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The Israeli Supreme Court gave the green light to the expulsion of Omar Shakir earlier this month.

“All those who act against Israel must know that we will not allow them to live or work here,” Israeli Interior Minister Arye Dery said, citing Shakir as “one of the leaders of the country. BDS movement “.

“Neither Human Rights Watch, nor me as his representative have ever called for a boycott of Israel,” defended Shakir, who took office in 2017.

“We called on companies, as we call on governments, to refrain from contributing to rights violations” by operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank – considered illegal by the UN – and to stop doing so, he continued.

After his expulsion, Omar Shakir will continue to deal with Israel and the Palestinian Territories, but from abroad, said HRW.