Palestinian BDS National Committee condemns HRW for anti-Palestinian bias

The Palestinian BDS National Committee has strongly criticized Human Rights Watch for biased reporting that marginalizes Palestinian rights, including the right of return, and undermines Israeli violations in Gaza.

In a statement, the committee denounced "the new expression of anti-Palestinian racism by Human Rights Watch," saying the international watchdog is systematically depriving Palestinians of their fundamental rights.

It added that HRW's recent conduct demonstrates a fundamental prejudice against Palestinians while downplaying Israel's continued violations in the Gaza Strip.

The committee firmly asserted that the Palestinian refugees’ right of return is an inalienable principle as per international law, stressing that Palestinians will never give it up.

It clarified that the right is also a foundational pillar of the global BDS movement launched in 2005, which calls for freedom, justice, and equality for the people of Palestine.

The committee’s statement came in response to the resignation of two Human Rights Watch employees after the organization’s leadership prevented the release of a report finding that Israel’s denial of Palestinian refugees’ historic right to return amounts to a crime against humanity.

In defense of the decision not to publish the report, Human Rights Watch's former executive director argued that its legal conclusions were "untested and lacked legal basis."

The HRW leadership also claimed the report involved “complex and consequential issues” requiring further analysis before release.

Palestinian civil society have dismissed the claim, citing a report published by Human Rights Watch in 2023 which declared the United Kingdom’s denial of the Chagos Islanders' right to return to their homeland a crime against humanity.

This comes as Human Rights Watch has not issued a single comprehensive report for months to denounce Israel’s ongoing genocide against the 2.3 million people trapped in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The committee further noted that Human Rights Watch’s failure, until at least August 2024, to call for a permanent ceasefire underscored its continued disregard for Palestinian lives.

The HRW also refrained from describing Israel’s actions as genocide, even though that legal classification has been advanced by numerous UN experts and prominent genocide scholars, it added.

The committee also said that Human Rights Watch removed the broader context of oppression when assessing Palestinian actions but instead presented events in a manner that supports Israel’s colonial dominance and protects its actions in Gaza from meaningful legal and moral accountability.

It characterized Human Rights Watch’s 2024 report as among the organization’s most dangerous efforts to indirectly legitimize Israel’s genocide in Gaza, noting that this approach was not unprecedented.

The statement said that Israel continues its genocide in Gaza because of Western military aid, political backing, and legal cover, spearheaded by the United States.

It also held governments, institutions, corporations, and mainstream media outlets accountable for their complicity and cautioned that certain organizations operating under the banner of human rights are now involved in whitewashing systematic violations, even as they purport to protect the very rights they undermine.

Israel-Palestine head of HRW resigns over blocked report on Palestinians right of return

The Israel-Palestine director of Human Rights Watch has resigned in protest after the organization’s leadership blocked a pro-Palestine report.

On Tuesday, the Israel-Palestine director of Human Rights Watch resigned in protest, saying the organization’s new Executive Director prevented the publication of a report exposing Israel for committing “crimes against humanity” by denying Palestinian refugees their right of return.

The resignations have shaken one of the world’s most prominent human rights organizations.

The 33-page report, never published, documented the experiences of Palestinians displaced from Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and refugee communities in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.

It linked decades of denied return to clear violations of international law, including crimes that could be prosecuted.

The Palestinian BDS National Committee is the broadest Palestinian civil society coalition that works to lead and support the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement against Israel.

The committee’s main mandate and role include strengthening and spreading the culture of boycott as a central form of civil resistance to Israeli occupation, colonialism, and apartheid.

It also aims to serve as the Palestinian reference point for BDS campaigns in the region and worldwide and its stated objective is to pressure Israel to meet its obligations under international law, which includes withdrawal from the occupied territories and promotion of "the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties.”

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