[Opinion] BDS, Omar Shakir, and Israel Eliminationism
Professor Gerlad M Steinberg discusses the impending case against BDS activist Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine Country Director.
Publications: | Reports, Books, Academic Publications, Submissions, Resource Pages |
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Other Content Types: | Press Releases, In The Media, Presentations, Posts, , Key Issues |
NGOs: | Human Rights Watch (HRW) |
Start date: | 1 Jan 1988 |
End date: | 25 Jan 2021 |
Professor Gerlad M Steinberg discusses the impending case against BDS activist Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine Country Director.
On May 17, 2019, the German Bundestag passed a landmark resolution affirming BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns against Israel as antisemitic. Despite this multi-partisan support, a number of politicized non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – in particular those that benefit from German government funding and from other European countries –condemned the motion.
For nearly 20 years, NGO Monitor has studied and analyzed the presence of antisemitism within the human rights and humanitarian NGO community. Civil society must play a critical role in combating antisemitism.
Professor Gerald M. Steinberg discusses whether ethical guidelines or legal restrictions are legitimate means of responding to the singling out of Israel through boycotts and similar attacks.
In May 2019, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC) published “2018 Impunity Remains: Attacks on Health Care in 23 Countries in Conflict” which painted Israel as the worst offender of attacks against health care in 2018. Closer inspection reveals a publication rife with faulty methodology, as well as reporting and selection bias that can be traced to highly partisan contributors
On March 13, 2019, Amnesty International posted, “Think Twice: Can companies do business with Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories while respecting human rights?” The Amnesty campaign coincides with the anticipated release of the UN Human Rights Council blacklist of “settlement” businesses and is designed to bolster this UN initiative singling out Israel for attack.
On May 4 and May 5, 2019, Palestinian terror groups in Gaza fired over 600 rockets and mortars toward Israeli population centers, murdering four Israeli civilians. NGOs and NGO officials that claim to promote human rights have ignored the blatant Palestinian violations against Israeli civilians. Some have remained silent altogether, while others have focused exclusively on demonizing Israel for responding to the attacks.
Although Palestinian officials are often portrayed as the initiators and leaders, in practice, the campaigns are largely led by officials of Western institutions, including powerful non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in the areas of human rights, international law, peace, and other normative objectives.
Omar Shakir’s background and history of anti-Israel activity exemplifies the organization’s troubling ideological approach to Israel and retreat from the universal principles of human rights.
Omar Shakir tweeted 970 times (including retweets) on issues relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict, ranging from boycotting businesses over the 1949 Armistice line, the violence along the Gaza border, and his lawsuit against the Israeli government.