Human Rights Watch Director Decries Expulsion From Israel as Attempt to 'Muzzle Dissent'

Human rights campaigners stood in solidarity on Wednesday with Omar Shakir, the director of Human Rights Watch's (HRW) work in Israel and Palestine, after Israel announced that Shakir would be expelled from the country within 14 days.

Despite claims by the Israeli Interior Ministry that Shakir had violated the country's anti-boycott laws, Shakir argued that the deportation order was part of Israel's efforts to "muzzle dissent" regarding its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and other human rights violations.

Fifteen Israeli human rights groups including the Coalition of Women for Peace and the Human Rights Defenders Fund spoke out in support of Shakir, calling on Israel to "end the occupation"--rather than trying to hide it by removing critics.

"Israel is trying to keep both its own citizens and the world from seeing what it is doing," the groups' joint letter states. "Neither closing the borders to human rights groups and activists nor other Israeli measures against organizations critical of the occupation will deter us--or them--from reporting human rights violations in areas under Israeli control."

The Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday that Shakir was being ordered to leave Israel due to his support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement urging backers to withdraw all economic support for Israel to protest the occupation and other abuses.

While Shakir said Tuesday, "I have not called for any form of boycott of Israel during my time at Human Rights Watch," a statement from his organization argues that even trying to ban ban participation in such non-violent actions remains "contrary to Israel's obligation to uphold the rights to freedom of expression and to non-discrimination on grounds of political opinion."

"This is yet another alarming sign of the country's increasing intolerance of critical voices," added Magdalena Mughrabi of Amnesty International. "The Israeli authorities must immediately stop their ongoing harassment of human rights defenders. Barring access to those documenting human rights abuses won't hide Israel's mass violations carried out in the context of more than 50 years of occupation. Israel must repeal laws that arbitrarily restrict human rights advocacy, including criticism of human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law that it has committed."

Shakir, a U.S. citizen, was previously barred from Israel last year when the country refused to grant him a work permit. He was later given a one-year work visa after Shakir himself drew comparisons between the Israeli denialand a host of other countries that showhostility towards human rights observers.