On March 19, 2020, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a short but meaningless report on the “Human Rights Dimensions of COVID-19 Response.” In particular, the report exposes HRW’s lack of credibility in the area of public health and epidemiology, primarily attacking government measures to prevent widespread death from the virus.
The news cycle has been dominated by COVID-19, and a number of advocacy NGOs have made statements linking their agendas to this issue.
On February 25, 2020, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the bureaucratic arm of the Human Rights Council, presented an update on the 2019 Commission of Inquiry into the violence along the Israel-Gaza border. As with previous UN pseudo-investigations on Israel, this COI ignored legal standards and readily and publicly available information to accuse Israel of “war crimes” and other violations. The 2020 update continued to promote this false narrative and the biased HRC agenda.
In August 2018, An-Najah University in Nablus held a ceremony to recognize 61 prisoners incarcerated in Israel’s Nafha Prison who had completed a course in international law and human rights. According to the university, the ceremony was organized by the UNESCO Chair on Human Rights and Democracy and Peace at An-Najah, in cooperation with Fatah
In February 2020, Belgium invited invited Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) Senior Advisor for Policy and Advocacy Brad Parker to brief the Council on February 24. DCI-P has ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), designated as a terrorist organization in the US, EU, Israel, and Canada.
In February 2020, Belgium invited invited Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) Senior Advisor for Policy and Advocacy Brad Parker to brief the Council on February 24. DCI-P has ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), designated as a terrorist organization in the US, EU, Israel, and Canada.
Proponents of anti-Israel BDS campaigns are exploiting debates about mass surveillance and facial recognition software to target Microsoft and an Israeli company, AnyVision.
According to Law professor Eugene Kontorovich, Whitson is an active supporter of groups that support Armenian settlements in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, while pursuing rabid campaigns against Jewish communities in the West Bank. This promotion of Armenian settlement products and groups directly contradicts HRW’s assertions regarding Israel.
NGO Monitor Legal Advisor Anne Herzberg writes a letter to OHCHR High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet regarding the BDS Blacklist.
On December 10, 2019, based on research by Professor Eugene Kontorovich and the Kohelet Policy Forum, the Jerusalem Post published an expose on donations to the European Council for Foreign Relations (ECFR) from companies operating in settlements. ECFR has been one of the leading BDS advocates in Europe under the guise of a so-called “differentiation” policy.