Jerusalem - Israel's Supreme Court upheld a
government decision to deport a Human Rights Watch (HRW)
official accused of backing an international pro-Palestinian
boycott campaign, an edict he said was aimed at stifling
criticism of Israel.
The court ratified an Interior Ministry refusal to renew the
work visa of Omar Shakir, a US citizen representing New
York-based HRW in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and
ordered him to leave within 20 days.
Israel says he supports the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions (BDS) movement which it has criminalised.
It has lobbied Western powers to follow suit, and Shakir's
case was a test for its anti-boycott legislation.
Shakir contested the argument that his past pro-Palestinian
statements, before being appointed to the HRW post in 2016,
constituted current backing for boycotts of Israel.
"Israeli Supreme Court upholds my deportation over my rights
advocacy," Shakir tweeted about the unanimous decision by the
three-judge court.
He said that if the Israeli government forces him to leave,
it will be joining Iran, North Korea and Egypt in blocking
access for HRW officials monitoring rights violations.
"We won't stop. And we won't be the last," Shakir wrote.
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Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said he was happy with
the decision. "Anyone who acts against the country should know
we will not allow them to work or live here," he said.
Before the ruling, HRW said Israel's move against Shakir
showed it was seeking to suppress rights criticism.
HRW says it does not support boycotts of Israel.
It has defended Shakir’s statements since joining, including
a tweet backing online rental service Airbnb’s delisting a year
ago of homes in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Airbnb later reversed that decision after intense criticism
from Israel and litigation in U.S. and Israeli courts.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said Israel
granted hundreds of visas a year to rights activists and invited
HRW to appoint a replacement for Shakir.
Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian envoy to Britain and adviser
to President Mahmoud Abbas, tweeted that the ruling was a
"disgraceful but expected outcome because of international
inaction".
Ayman Odeh, a senior politician representing Israel's Arab
minority, added on Twitter that deporting Shakir "only proves to
us and to the world the extent to which his work is needed".