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The director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) for Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Omar Shakir, is the first person to be deported from Israel as part of controversial measures against a boycott campaign of the Jewish state.
Since 2017, Israel has banned the entry into its territory of foreigners accused of supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the country. But, according to the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs, Shakir, a US citizen, is the first to be deported under this measure.
►Also read: Israel: Supreme Court validates deportation of Human Rights Watch director
Israel refused to renew his visa in late 2018, accusing him of supporting the BDS, which Omar Shakir denies. After a series of appeals in early November, the Israeli Supreme Court gave the green light to his deportation. " I do not remember another democracy that blocked access to a Human Rights Watch researcher ," AFP director Kenneth Roth told AFP. This demonstrates the increasingly restricted character of Israeli democracy. "
Israeli war against BDS
Omar Shakir compared this expulsion to the treatment he received from Egypt, Syria or Bahrain. Human Rights Watch says it will continue its mission but outside of Israel for lack of a visa. The European Union has expressed its opposition to the Israeli decision as well as the UN warning in May against the " shrinking space for human rights defenders to act " in Israel. The United States has said its " strong opposition to the BDS campaign targeting the State of Israel ", however, affirming their commitment to freedom of expression.
At the heart of the conflict between Israel and the Israel war is the war against the global BDS campaign. BDS calls for Israel's economic, cultural or scientific boycott to end the occupation and colonization of the Palestinian territories. His supporters are based on the example of South Africa, saying that the boycott of the country has put an end to the apartheid regime.
( with AFP )