Israeli court approves expulsion of HRW director
An Israeli court this week upheld a deportation order against Human Rights Watch’s local director and gave him two weeks to leave the country.
The Jerusalem District Court rejected an appeal by Omar Shakir to remain in the country, saying his activities against Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank amounted to a boycott of the country.
Israel enacted a law in 2017 barring entry to any foreigner who “knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel”. Tuesday’s ruling was the first time the law was applied to someone already living in the country.
Mr Shakir, a US citizen, has worked as the New York group’s Israel and Palestine director since October 2016.
Israel’s interior minister ordered Mr Shakir’s deportation in May last year, calling him a “boycott activist”.
The court said that Mr Shakir “continues his actions publicly to advance a boycott against Israel, but it’s not on the stages at conferences or in university panels, rather through disseminating his calls to advance a boycott primarily through his Twitter account and by other means”.
It cited Mr Shakir’s support on Twitter for Airbnb’s decision to remove postings from Israeli settlements in the West Bank as an example. Airbnb later backtracked on that decision.
Human Rights Watch said neither the organisation nor Mr Shakir promoted Israel boycotts, but had called for companies to cease operations in West Bank settlements because they “inherently benefit from and contribute to serious violations of international humanitarian law”.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Palestinians seek these territories for a future state. Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal.
The court upheld the law applying to boycotts of “areas under [Israel’s] control”, namely the occupied West Bank, not only Israel proper.
“The decision sends the chilling message that those who criticise the involvement of businesses in serious abuses in Israeli settlements risk being barred from Israel and the Israelioccupied West Bank,” said Tom Porteous, deputy programme director at Human Rights Watch.