Dispute Over Human Rights Watch Israel Report an Opportunity for Accountability

Human Rights Watch (HRW), founded in 1978 by Robert Bernstein to “pry open closed societies, advocate basic freedoms and support dissenters,” has gone from humble nonprofit to political superpower with an annual budget of approximately $100 million. Its publications and accompanying campaigns are headlined by major media platforms, quoted in United Nations documents and by government leaders, and included as assigned reading in university courses. Most important, for the past 25 years, under the banner of promoting human rights, the organization became a world leader in disproportionately singling out and demonizing Israel, including via the Holocaust inversion libel of “genocide” — fueling violent antisemitic attacks, especially on college campuses.

So when a rare public fight within the ranks of HRW takes place, particularly involving Israel, it is major news. This occurred recently, triggered ostensibly by a management decision to hold up and review publication of a report claiming that Israel’s rejection of the long-standing Palestinian Arab claim to a “right of return” — which, if implemented, would mean the end of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people — constitutes a crime against humanity.

About the Author

Gerald M. Steinberg

Gerald M. Steinberg is the founder and president of NGO Monitor.

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Human Rights Watch (HRW), founded in 1978 by Robert Bernstein to “pry open closed societies, advocate basic freedoms and support dissenters,” has gone from humble nonprofit to political superpower with an annual budget of approximately $100 million. Its publications and accompanying campaigns are headlined by major media platforms, quoted in United Nations documents and by government leaders, and included as assigned reading in university courses. Most important, for the past 25 years, under the banner of promoting human rights, the organization became a world leader in disproportionately singling out and demonizing Israel, including via the Holocaust inversion libel of “genocide” — fueling violent antisemitic attacks, especially on college campuses.

So when a rare public fight within the ranks of HRW takes place, particularly involving Israel, it is major news. This occurred recently, triggered ostensibly by a management decision to hold up and review publication of a report claiming that Israel’s rejection of the long-standing Palestinian Arab claim to a “right of return” — which, if implemented, would mean the end of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people — constitutes a crime against humanity.