Resource Page on Omar Shakir (HRW) Court Case
Update
On November 5, 2019, the Supreme Court rejected Shakir’s appeal and upheld the ruling of the Lower Court that his work visa will not be renewed.
In October 2016, Human Rights Watch (HRW) hired Omar Shakir to serve as its “Israel and Palestine Country Director.” Shakir has been a consistent supporter of a one-state framework and advocate for BDS (boycotts, divestment, sanctions) campaigns, fitting the longstanding HRW practice of hiring anti-Israel activists to serve in key positions relating to Israel.
In May 2018, due to Shakir’s BDS ties, the Israeli Ministry of Interior chose not to renew his work visa. HRW and Shakir have been challenging this decision in Israeli courts. In April 2019, he lost his case in the Jerusalem District Court and immediately appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court. The hearing took place on September 24, 2019. While Shakir regularly assails Israel for its “lack of democracy,” in fact, the Israeli courts allowed him to remain in the country during his appeal process despite having no obligation to do so.
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.1
Publications by NGO Monitor Relating to Omar Shakir
- Key Takeaways from the Supreme Court’s Omar Shakir (HRW) Decision
- FAQs on the Omar Shakir Case: Countering HRW’s Spin
- Transcriptions of Kann radio interviews by Eran Cicorel with Kenneth Roth and Omar Shakir
Background information on Omar Shakir and Ken Roth
Documents Submitted to the Court
- NGO Monitor’s Amicus Brief submitted to the Jerusalem District Court (Hebrew), June 18, 2018
- Additions to the Amicus Brief submitted to the Jerusalem District Court (Hebrew), February 2019
- Additional Documents to the Amicus Brief submitted to the Jerusalem District Court (Hebrew), March 2019
- NGO Monitor’s Amicus Brief submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court (Hebrew), July 18, 2019
NGO Monitor Reports
- UN Officials Promote HRW’s In-House BDS Activist, April 29, 2019
- The BDS Life and Times of Omar Shakir, April 4, 2019
- Omar Shakir’s Obsessive Anti-Israel Twitter Campaign (June 2018– February 2019), March 13, 2019
- Human Rights Watch (HRW), January 31, 2019
- The Gaza Riots and HRW’s Immoral Anti-Israel Obsession on Twitter, May 29, 2018
- After Work Visa Cancelled, HRW Falsely Denies BDS and Demonization Promotion, May 9, 2018
- UN CEIRPP “50 Years of Occupation” Event: BDS, Antisemitism, and Demonization, July 16, 2017
- Omar Shakir: BDS Activist and Human Rights Watch Official, December 14, 2016
Op-Eds/Articles
Footnotes
- HRW systematically hires anti-Israel activists to work on Israel-related issues. Officials such as Sarah Leah Whitson (Executive Director, Middle East and North Africa Division) and Khulood Badawi (Israel and East Jerusalem Consultant) have well-documented histories of radical activism and have also engaged in various forms of anti-Israel activity such as BDS.
Related Articles
The BDS Life and Times of Omar Shakir
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’s Obsessive Anti-Israel Twitter Campaign (June 2018– February 2019)
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.
Omar Shakir: BDS Activist and Human Rights Watch Official
HRW's hiring of Omar Shakir to serve as its "Israel and Palestine Country Director" is unsurprising given its history of employing anti-Israel activists to work on Israel-related issues.
UN Officials Promote HRW’s In-House BDS Activist
On April 25, 2019, three UN Special Rapporteurs issued a statement supporting HRW Israel/Palestine Director and long-time BDS activist Omar Shakir, who failed to convince an Israeli court to force the Interior Ministry to grant him a new work visa.
