Israel Denies a Work Visa to Human Rights Watch Researcher

by Dramelin 5:00 AM 0 comments

?Human Rights Watch is systematically biased against Israel,? said Emmanuel Nahshon, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Human Rights Watch, which shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for being part of an international anti-landmine campaign, works in 90 nations and has official offices in 24 of them.
JERUSALEM ? The Israeli government has denied a work visa to an investigator for Human Rights Watch, a prominent rights organization, accusing the group of engaging in ?Palestinian propaganda.
?Human Rights Watch, which has worked in Israel for three decades, denied the accusation, calling the visa rejection ?part of a pattern? of actions by the right-wing government in the country to hinder the work of rights groups.
?They are in fact in the service of Palestinian propaganda rather than being in the service of the truth and human rights.
?Mr.
Nahshon said that Human Rights Watch would continue to be able to work in Israel.
On Feb.
20, the group received a notice that its application for a work visa for its investigator, Omar Shakir, had been turned down because, a letter said, the group had a pro-Palestinian bias.