Human Rights Watch Worker Allowed Into Israel
Omar Shakir Image by Human Rights Watch
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An American employee of Human Rights Watch was permitted to enter Israel after previously being denied both a tourist and work visa due to the NGO’s alleged anti-Israel bias.
Omar Shakir, the new Israel and Palestine director for Human Rights Watch, a leading nongovernmental organization, entered Israel on Monday, four days after initially being denied a 10-day tourist visa.
He was allowed entry into Israel the same day that the Knesset passed a law banning entry to foreigners who publicly call for boycotting the Jewish state or its settlements.
After Shakir had been denied a work visa on Feb. 21, an Israeli official said he could apply for a tourist visa, implying that it would be granted.
“Greetings from beautiful Yaffa/Jaffa! Happy to share that I landed safely today in Ben Gurion Airport,” Shakir said in a post Monday on Facebook.
The post continued: “I’m very excited for this 10-day visit, my first in this post (5+ months in), and the opportunity to engage Israeli and Palestinian officials, partners & those directly affected by human rights abuses on all sides.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
