Human Rights Watch worker receives Israel work visa after initial denial
Israel granted a US employee of nongovernmental organisation a visa, months after rejecting the same person
Israel granted an American employee of Human Rights Watch a work visa after previously denying him both a tourist and work visa due to the NGO’s alleged anti-Israel bias.
Omar Shakir, who was named in March as the Israel and Palestine director for Human Rights Watch, a leading nongovernmental organisation, received the one-year work permit on Wednesday when he arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport.
“We hope this decision, an important step in demonstrating the openness of Israeli authorities to criticism, reflects a larger recommitment on their part to allow rights groups to work freely, including in Gaza,” Shakir said in a post on his personal Facebook page, which included a photo of the visa.
Human Rights Watch said it applied to the Israeli Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority on July 14, 2016, for a work permit on behalf of Shakir, a U.S. citizen who is a lawyer by training. The Interior Ministry initially denied the work permit for Shakir, but allowed him to enter the country on a tourist visa on March 6 for a 10-day visit.
At the end of March, the Interior Ministry notified Human Rights Watch that it had granted the group permission to employ a foreign expert in Israel, and then accepted the paperwork and payment for Shakir’s work visa.
In explaining its earlier denial, the Israeli government said at the time that the group’s “public actions and reports have focused on politics in service of Palestinian propaganda while falsely raising the banner of ‘human rights.’”
Iain Levine, executive deputy director for program at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement issued Wednesday: “We welcome this opportunity to work in Israel and Palestine alongside vigorous national human rights organisations. Israeli authorities do not always agree with our findings, but in facilitating the ability of our staff to carry out our research and documentation, they have taken an important step to safeguard the principle of transparency and demonstrate their openness to criticism.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
