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Views Or Conclusions THE BEGIN-SADAT CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY Mideast Security and Policy Studies No. 177 Palestinian Activists at Human Rights Watch Gerald M. Steinberg and Maayan Rockland 3 Palestinian Activists at Human Rights Watch Gerald M. Steinberg and Maayan Rockland Research assistance provided by Ohad Merlin © The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies Bar-Ilan University Ramat Gan 5290002 Israel Tel: 972-3-5318959 [email protected] www.besacenter.org ISSN 0793-1042 July 2020 Cover image: Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, image via World Economic Forum Flickr CC 4 The Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies is an independent, non-partisan think tank conducting policy-relevant research on Middle Eastern and global strategic affairs, particularly as they relate to the national security and foreign policy of Israel and regional peace and stability. It is named in memory of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, whose efforts in pursuing peace laid the cornerstone for conflict resolution in the Middle East. BESA Perspectives are short pieces on timely and fundamental Israeli, Middle Eastern, and global issues. Mideast Security and Policy Studies serve as a forum for publication or re- publication of research conducted by BESA associates. Colloquia on Strategy and Diplomacy summarize the papers delivered at conferences and seminars held by the Center for the academic, military, official, and general publics. In sponsoring these discussions, the BESA Center aims to stimulate public debate on, and consideration of, contending approaches to problems of peace and war in the Middle East. The Policy Memorandum series consists of policy-oriented papers. Publication of a work by BESA signifies that it is deemed worthy of public consideration but does not imply endorsement of the author’s views or conclusions. A list of recent BESA Center publications can be found at the end of this booklet. International Advisory Board Founder of the Center and Chairman of the Advisory Board: Dr. Thomas O. Hecht Vice Chairman: Mr. Saul Koschitzky Members: Ms. Marion Hecht, Mr. Robert Hecht, Prof. Riva Heft-Hecht, Mr. Joel Koschitzky, Amb. Yitzhak Levanon, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Mr. Robert K. Lifton, Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney, Mr. Seymour D. Reich, Mr. Greg Rosshandler, Amb. Zalman Shoval, Amb. Norman Spector, Ms. Drorit Wertheim International Academic Advisory Board Prof. Ian Beckett University of Kent, Prof. Eliot A. Cohen Johns Hopkins University, Prof. Irwin Cotler McGill University, Prof. Steven R. David Johns Hopkins University, Prof. Lawrence Freedman King’s College, Prof. Patrick James University of Southern California, Dr. Martin Kramer Shalem College, Prof. Robert J. Lieber Georgetown University, Prof. Michael Mandelbaum Johns Hopkins University Research Staff BESA Center Director: Prof. Efraim Karsh Research Associates: Mr. Emil Avdaliani, Dr. Efrat Aviv, Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Shaul Bartal, Mr. Edwin Black, Dr. Yael Bloch-Elkon, Col. (res.) Dr. Raphael Bouchnik-Chen, Brig. Gen. (res.) Moni Chorev, Dr. Edy Cohen, Dr. James Dorsey, Dr. Gil Feiler, Prof. Jonathan Fox, Prof. Hillel Frisch, Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, Prof. Eytan Gilboa, Dr. Gabriel Glickman, Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen, Col. (res.) Aby Har-Even, Dr. Eado Hecht, Dr. Tsilla Hershco, Dr. Doron Itzchakov, Dr. Alex Joffe, Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Mr. Yaakov Lappin, Prof. Udi Lebel, Dr. Alon Levkowitz, Prof. Ze’ev Maghen, Dr. Mark Meirowitz, Ambassador Arye Mekel, Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Raphael Ofek, Mr. Amir Rapaport, Dr. Asaf Romirowsky, Col. (res.) Dr. Uzi Rubin, Prof. Jonathan Rynhold, Prof. Shmuel Sandler, Dr. Yechiel Shabiy, Dr. Eitan Shamir, Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Dany Shoham, Prof. Shlomo Shpiro, Prof. Joshua Teitelbaum, Dr. George N. Tzogopoulos, Dr. Jiri Valenta, Dr. Albert Wolf Program Coordinator: Alona Briner Publications Editor (English): Judith Levy 5 Palestinian Activists at Human Rights Watch Gerald M. Steinberg and Maayan Rockland Research assistance provided by Ohad Merlin EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In theory, the officials, researchers, and analysts working in the area of human rights are committed to unbiased, politically neutral reporting. Their credibility as watchdogs is based on a non-discriminatory approach, as specified under criteria in United Nations documents and published by the International Bar Association and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. In practice, these words often stand in sharp contrast to the activities and biased agendas of these institutions. Professor Michael Ignatieff notes that many NGOs “espouse the universalist language of human rights but actually use it to defend highly particularist causes: the rights of particular national groups or minorities or classes of persons.” As an example, Ignatieff notes that “[P]ersons who care about human rights violations committed against Palestinians may not care so much about human rights violations committed by Palestinians against Israelis, and vice versa.” (See also Gerald M. Steinberg, Anne Herzberg, Jordan Berman, Best Practices for Human Rights and Humanitarian NGO Fact-Finding, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012.) This bias is characteristic of many major non-governmental organizations (NGOs) claiming human rights agendas. A prime example is Human Rights Watch, which exhibits a fundamental and consistent bias against Israel. Its bias is reflected in the disproportionate output and content of its reports, press releases, and other products. In addition, as this report demonstrates in detail, the organization has employed a number of Palestinian activists without so much as a pretense of human rights experience anchored in universality. ____________________ Gerald M. Steinberg is professor emeritus in Political Science at Bar-Ilan University. Maayan Rockland is a political science and Middle Eastern Studies student at Bar-Ilan University and a research assistant at NGO Monitor. 6 Following the presentation of the evidence regarding the systematic employment of biased and unqualified officials and researchers, we will consider the policy implications of this situation. The evidence of HRW’s bias has been largely ignored by many international actors whose agendas include human rights issues. In some cases, this bias is shared, such as by the UN Human Rights Council and the ICC. In addition, the Israeli government has been ambivalent in its policies regarding the organization and its employees, at times providing HRW with additional opportunities to promote its agenda. 7 Palestinian Activists at Human Rights Watch Gerald M. Steinberg and Maayan Rockland Research assistance provided by Ohad Merlin Human Rights Watch (HRW) was founded under the name Helsinki Watch by the late Robert Bernstein in 1978, and has grown to become one of the most influential non-governmental organizations with a global reach active on this issue. As of 2019, HRW had an annual budget of $90 million, and its influence was reflected in access to and involvement in policymaking in many countries that emphasize human rights, as well as international organizations such as the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. In 2009, Bernstein accused HRW and its head since 1993, Kenneth Roth, of losing their moral compass, particularly in the Middle East. In the wake of Judge Richard Goldstone's renunciation of his own UN report on the Gaza conflict, Bernstein told Roth to follow this example and “issue his own mea culpa.” Roth did not respond, other than to increase his disproportionate focus on and personal hostility to Israel. As Jonathan Foreman observed (“The Twitter Hypocrisy of Kenneth Roth,” Commentary, September 1, 2014), “it often feels as if Roth has a religious sense of mission regarding Israel; it’s his crusade. He responds with particular, extraordinary ferocity to any and all skeptical questioning of himself and the organization concerning Israel. HRW is of course not alone in subjecting Israel to disproportionate attention and particularly hostile scrutiny.” Roth hired Sarah Leah Whitson in 2004 as Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of HRW, where she remained until January 2020. Whitson’s anti- Israel political agenda was reflected in her participation in boycott campaigns, the “research reports” she co-authored and supervised, and her media interviews and opinion pieces. In May 2009, Whitson went to Saudi Arabia seeking donors, emphasizing HRW’s “work on Israel and Gaza, which depleted HRW’s budget for the region,” and the need to stand up to “pro-Israel pressure groups” which, she declared, “strongly resisted the [Goldstone] report and tried to discredit it.” Whitson often echoed classic antisemitic tropes and Jewish conspiracy theories, particularly on Twitter. In January 2015, she commented on the US Holocaust 8 Museum’s display of “death and torture in Syria,” stating that the Holocaust Museum should “also show pics of death and destruction in #Gaza”. Recently, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Whitson posted a tweet referring to Israeli quarantine measures, which some had used for political purposes by comparing it to the Gaza counter-terror blockade. In her tweet, Whitson invoked the classic blood libel: “Such a tiny taste. Missing a tablespoon of blood.” Following intense criticism, she attempted to explain and then deleted the post. Under Whitson’s direction, HRW employed an “Israel and Palestine director”—a higher-level position with no parallel among the other countries covered by the
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