UN Condemns Israeli Decision To Expel HRW Director

Riyaz Patel

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the decision by Israel to deport Omar Shakir, its director for Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Shakir, a US citizen, was placed on a flight out of Ben Gurion International Airport late Monday, after the Israeli Supreme Court upheld the government’s decision to expel him from Tel Aviv.

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Shakir has been an outspoken advocate of the BDS movement prior to his work at HRW, and that they have every right to expel him under a 2017 amendment to the rules of entry and residency.

This is the first deportation under the rule.

Earlier this year, the regulation was cited to deny