Israel’s souring relations with nongovernmental organizations reached a new low late last week after the country denied a work permit to the Israel and Palestine director of Human Rights Watch and accused the New York–based organization of being “in the service of Palestinian propaganda” and “systematically hostile toward Israel.”
HRW vociferously rejected Israel’s accusations and turned the international spotlight back on the Jewish state, paying special attention to the country’s hostile attitude toward rights groups in recent years and likening the country’s controversial decision characteristic of countries like Venezuela and North Korea.
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Facing international outrage, Israel soon backtracked. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon told VICE News that while Israel is “not happy with Human Rights Watch, and we are not happy with [their] reports,” authorities in the country “thought again about the whole thing.”
Though Israel’s government ultimately decided that Omar Shakir, the blocked HRW researcher, would be welcome on a tourist visa, the dust-up returned the world’s attention to Israel’s fractious relationship with NGOs.
“This decision is an ominous turn,” Shakir said. “We hope it’s not an indication of where the Israeli government, emboldened by changes in government in Washington and London regarding pressure on human rights issues, may be going.”
It was the first time Israel has denied a work visa to an HRW researcher, the group said. But HRW is hardly the first organization to face trouble in Israel; the country’s relationship with civil society groups has grown increasingly fraught in recent years. The Israeli Knesset last year passed a controversial financial disclosure bill targeting left-wing groups that receive foreign funding, and Israeli officials have criticized human rights groups and pressured European authorities to cancel events put on by an Israeli group that opposes the occupation of Palestinian territories.
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