Omar Shakir, a US citizen, was ordered to leave the country after Israel's Supreme Court upheld an expulsion order under a 2017 law that allows Israel to deport foreigners who support the boycott movement aimed at economically isolating Israel, but has also been accused of anti-Semitism and ties with terrorism.

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"This has never been about BDS. It's always been about the Israeli government's efforts to muzzle Human Rights Watch," Shakir said in a statement. "But it's had exactly the opposite effect. The world has seen through this for what it is. It's an attack on the human rights movement."

Nevertheless, a watchdog group said that Shakir has long targeted the Jewish state.

"Shakir's career, including at HRW, has been devoted to uniquely and intensely targeting Israel. His personal involvement in campaigns concerning Israeli banks, Airbnb and FIFA membership was meant to trigger far-reaching boycotts, divestment, and sanctions. Two courts carefully reviewed the evidence we provided and came to the same conclusion," NGO Monitor said in a statement.

"Now that Shakir has lost, he and HRW have suddenly forgotten the due process and exceptional access that he enjoyed," it said.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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According to a ruling handed down by the Jerusalem District Court in April, "Not only did [Shakir] not prove that he had abandoned his calls for a boycott of Israel [upon taking up his post at Human Rights Watch] … [he] has continued to carry out his agenda as evident from his actions and statements."

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The judges said they were rejecting his appeal because "the petitioner continues to publicly call for a boycott against the State of Israel or parts of it, and in the same breath, requests Israel open its doors to him."

Shakir was denied an Israeli work visa in 2017 due to concerns that he was engaged in anti-Israel activity. He received a one-year permit in April 2017, the same year Israel passed a law allowing it to deport or bar entry to foreign nationals publicly backing or promoting boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

In 2018 Israel's Interior Ministry refused to renew the permit, citing Shakir's support for the BDS movement on social media. Shakir and Human Rights Watch both denied the allegation, accusing Israel of using the 2017 law to silence criticism.

"I applaud the decision of the Supreme Court … that a work visa should not be given to a foreign boycott activist who wants to harm Israel and its citizens," said Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan in a statement. "Omar Shakir is a BDS activist who took advantage of his stay in Israel to harm it, something no sane country would allow."

Erdan stressed that Israel greatly valued "real" human rights organizations, adding that HRW was welcome to appoint a replacement for Shakir.

Following the ruling, Shakir must now leave the country within 20 days.

 Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The judge said she wanted more time to study the Twitter history of Omar Shakir, who is contesting the revocation of his work permit last year. The New York-based watchdog group has cast the case as a bid to suppress global criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

Israel says that Shakir, a U.S. citizen, supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Israel has criminalized BDS and has lobbied Western powers to follow suit.

The case hinges in part on Shakir's pro-BDS tweeting before he became Human Rights Watch's director for Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2016, and whether his statements after the appointment also constitute such support.

Human Rights Watch says it does not support boycotts of Israel. It has defended Shakir's statements since joining the rights group, including a tweet backing Airbnb's delisting of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria.

Right-wing advocacy groups represented in court argued that Israeli law does not distinguish between boycotts of the settlements and boycotts of Israel itself. One advocate, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the Shurat Hadin Israel Law Center, said Israel should consider barring Human Rights Watch entirely.

Shakir's Israeli lawyer, Michael Sfard, said that was what the case boiled down to, as "deporting the appellant means deporting the organization."

The case should not hinge on trying to determine Shakir's personal views, as "the question is not what he thinks, but what he does, and whether he calls openly for a boycott," Sfard said.

The state's representative, Jerusalem District prosecutor Moran Brown, was circumspect about Human Rights Watch's status.

"The organization is not defined by us as a boycott group, but it takes part in activity that supports boycotts," he said.

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