Israel allows HRW director visa after ‘bias’ row

JERUSALEM: A Human Rights Watch director said yesterday he had received permission to work in Israel, months after the Jewish state barred his entry and accused the group of ‘anti-Israel’ bias.

HRW’s Israel and Palestine director, US citizen Omar Shakir, told AFP he had received a work visa after arriving at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport.

“Israeli authorities do not always agree with our findings, but, in facilitating the ability of our staff to carry out our research and documentation, they have taken an important step to safeguard the principle of transparency and demonstrate their openness to criticism,” he said.

Israel in February rejected Shakir’s request, saying HRW had “demonstrated time and again it is a fundamentally biased and anti-Israeli organisation with a clear hostile agenda”.

The New York-based watchdog has written several critical reports about the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Israel’s government, seen as the most right-wing in the country’s history, has been accused of putting pressure on both international and local rights organisations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday cancelled talks with visiting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel because the diplomat met groups critical of Israeli settlement building during his trip .— AFP