TEHRAN (Iran News) – HRW (Human Rights Watch) condemned Tel Aviv’s decision to expel the rights group’s Israel director from the occupied territories over his support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. In a statement on Sunday, HRW Executive Director Ken Roth said that American citizen Omar Shakir, the US-based rights group’s […]
TEHRAN (Iran News) – HRW (Human Rights Watch) condemned Tel Aviv’s decision to expel the rights group’s Israel director from the occupied territories over his support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In a statement on Sunday, HRW Executive Director Ken Roth said that American citizen Omar Shakir, the US-based rights group’s director for Israel and the Palestinian territories, is to be deported from Israel on Monday over his support the BDS movement and condemned Israel for that.
The movement, which is a Palestinian-led campaign promoting a total and worldwide boycott against the Israeli regime, was initiated in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian organizations and later turned international.
BDS, which was inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, says it continues its efforts until it forces Israel to abide by “its obligations under international law” and end its occupation of Palestinian lands.
HRW rejected the idea that Shakir had supported the boycott movement against Israel, saying the occupying regime is, in fact, seeking to suppress criticism of policies towards Palestinians, according to Press TV.
Elsewhere in his statement, Roth said Tel Aviv tried “as much as it can” to silence efforts “spotlighting the human rights violations at the heart of the oppressive, discriminatory occupation (of Palestinian land).”
In a post on his Twitter account on Sunday, he noted that his expulsion was over his “human rights advocacy with HRW.”
“Israel is slated to deport me tomorrow over my work as HRW’s director in Israel,” Shakir said, adding, “It’s drawing a red line: free expression in Israel today doesn’t include basic rights advocacy (calling on businesses to refrain from complicity in abuses). We aren’t the first & won’t be the last.”
Thousands of volunteers worldwide have joined the BDS movement, which calls for people and groups across the world to cut economic, cultural and academic ties to Tel Aviv, to help promote the Palestinian cause.
- source : Tasnim, Irannews
