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Human Rights Watch Finally Draws the Line

Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, gestures during an interview with Reuters in Geneva, Switzerland, January 12, 2021. Picture taken January 12, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Omar Shakir has served as Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s Israel/Palestine director for the past decade. In 2018, Israel revoked his work visa due to his support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, claiming that such activism conflicted with the neutrality expected of a human rights investigator. He has worked from abroad ever since.

In 2021, he wrote a report accusing Israel of apartheid, and I went to one of his presentations at an interfaith conference to hear his case firsthand. He then went on to author another report accusing Israel of genocide.

Recently, Shakir and a colleague drafted a new document advancing an even more far-reaching claim: that Israel is committing a crime against humanity by denying the descendants of Palestinians uprooted in Israel’s War of Independence the “right of return.”

Crimes against humanity are among the gravest offenses in international law, typically defined as persecution, torture, or enslavement. Yet Shakir argues that Israel’s denial of a right of return to descendants should fall under the statute’s vague catch-all category of “other inhumane acts that cause great suffering.”

The Geneva Conventions prohibit the forcible displacement of civilians in war and recognize claims for return or compensation. Anyone, whether Arab or Jew, who was driven from their home illegally in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence should have been allowed back or compensated. But that debate is not the real issue here.

Omar Shakir is not concerned with the plight of people actually displaced way back then, as the vast majority are no longer living. Rather, he is referring to their descendants, often after three or four generations. This is a different claim entirely.

Under ordinary international practice, refugee status is temporary. It ends once a person either returns home or resettles with legal permission to live and work in a new place. At that point, refugee protections are no longer needed, and refugee status is therefore not inherited indefinitely across generations.

But the United Nations created a unique framework which it applies only to Palestinians. Unlike every other refugee group in history — including Jews murdered by the millions during the Holocaust — Palestinians uprooted in 1948 pass their refugee status along to their descendants without limit, even after they have successfully resettled. And that’s even though it’s questionable how many of the original descendants were actually forced out — something that also happened to large numbers of Jews in the Middle East at exactly the same time.

UNRWA, the United Nations agency dedicated to assisting Palestinian refugees, has also added additional eligibility categories. These include individuals who experienced poverty or hardship they attribute to the 1948 war, along with their descendants as well. When a Palestinian descendant living in the United States recently asked UNRWA to remove him from its rolls because he no longer considered himself a refugee, the agency refused. It said there was no mechanism to do so, and that names are typically removed only upon death.

These are the individuals whom Shakir says are victims of Israel’s new crime against humanity. But there are two problems. First, since most, if not all, were born in countries that grant them citizenship, they are not refugees in any ordinary sense of the word. They therefore have no right to demand to immigrate to a different country based solely on ancestral ties to a land they have never lived in.

Second, international criminal law does not treat the hardships of third- and fourth-generation descendants as the continuing legal responsibility of states decades later. If it did, nearly every country on earth would stand accused of slavery, colonialism, and crimes committed in centuries-old wars. Crimes against humanity would cease to denote deliberate, large-scale atrocities and instead be stretched to cover political and historical disputes that international criminal law was never meant for.

To its credit, this new report was a step too far even for Human Rights Watch, which did not allow its publication. While current HRW officials are reticent to comment, former HRW executive director Kenneth Roth stated that Shakir’s report, “was indefensible and would have been deeply embarrassing if given a Human Rights Watch imprimatur.”

This refusal prompted Shakir and his colleague to resign. They’ve since been outspoken in the press and social media, alleging that HRW has double standards when it comes to Israel, and questioning the organization’s integrity.

But for those of us who have long criticized Human Rights Watch for its scathing treatment of Israel — but the group’s pulled punches regarding Hamas — its decision not to publish Shakir’s report may be what is surprising. Human Rights Watch recognized that not every injustice is genocide, and historical grievances are not crimes against humanity. When advocacy groups stretch legal terms to score political points, they cheapen the very concepts meant to prevent atrocities. In this case, Human Rights Watch acted properly in drawing the line.

Shlomo Levin is the author of the Human Rights Haggadah, and he uses short fiction to explore human rights at https://shalzed.com/

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Erdogan Names Prosecutor Who Led Opposition Crackdown as Turkey Justice Minister

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a ceremony for the handover of new vehicles to the gendarmerie and police forces in Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan appointed as his new justice minister Akin Gurlek, the Istanbul chief prosecutor behind the unprecedented crackdown on the main opposition party, drawing fierce criticism and defiance from the party on Wednesday.

Since his appointment as chief prosecutor in 2024, Gurlek has overseen a wave of arrests and indictments targeting the Republican People’s Party (CHP), including investigations into the Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan‘s main political rival who has been jailed since his arrest in March last year.

In a 4,000-page indictment last November, Gurlek demanded a prison sentence of more than 2,000 years for Imamoglu for allegedly leading a vast corruption network, sparking Turkey‘s largest street protests in a decade.

The first hearing in that case, accusing hundreds of defendants linked to the Istanbul municipality of corruption and bribery, will be held next month.

A scuffle broke out in Turkey‘s parliament ahead of Gurlek’s swearing-in after opposition lawmakers protested against his appointment.

Main opposition CHP deputies gathered around the speaker’s podium to block Gurlek, calling his nomination “an attack on the rule of law.” TV footage showed lawmakers pushing and throwing punches and ruling AK Party lawmakers forming a protective ring around Gurlek as he read his oath.

FIRST CABINET SHUFFLE SINCE 2023 VOTE

In the first cabinet shuffle since mid-2023 elections, Gurlek replaced Yilmaz Tunc, who was first elected as a member of parliament in 2007.

The Official Gazette announcement also said that Erdogan had appointed Erzurum provincial governor Mustafa Ciftci as interior minister, replacing Ali Yerlikaya, who was the Istanbul governor before his appointment as minister.

A reason for the shuffle was not given.

Hundreds of party members and elected officials have been detained in Gurlek’s crackdown, which has been criticized as anti-democratic and politicized by opposition parties, rights groups and some foreign leaders – claims the government denies, saying the judiciary is independent.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said Gurlek’s cabinet appointment continued a “judicial coup attempt” while he was prosecutor and amounted to the latest step in a major attack on his party.

“We will not surrender… They cannot stop our march to power,” Ozel told reporters at a memorial ceremony for a former party leader, adding that there was no fair political competition left.

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France to Increase Visas for Iranian Seeking Refuge Amid Crackdown, Minister Says

French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot holds a press conference at the Pine Residence, the official residence of the French ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Feb. 6, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

France will increase the number of visas for Iranians seeking asylum as a result of the recent crackdown by Iranian authorities, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday.

Speaking in parliament, Barrot said Paris wanted to support the Iranian people by any means possible.

“In particular by welcoming opponents persecuted by the regime who are seeking asylum and refuge in France. We will increase our humanitarian visas for asylum purposes for these individuals whom we must protect,” he said.

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How Social Media Got Hamas Casualty Figures Wrong

A Palestinian man points a weapon in the air after it was announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, in the central Gaza Strip, October 9. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

As the Israel-Hamas ceasefire continues to hold, many analysts have begun examining available data to better understand Hamas’ casualties throughout the war. This is no easy feat, considering Hamas has consistently lied and inflated the civilian casualty figures. The reality of urban warfare provides other challenges for the IDF to count every eliminated terrorist.

Varying numbers regarding Hamas’ casualty figures have been recently touted on social media. But many of them lack sources, or a breakdown of the statistics.

Conversely, some analysts, such as HonestReporting board member Salo Aizenberg, have done an exceptional job at critically analyzing the available casualty numbers.

The Hamas-run Ministry of Health has reported over 70,000 deaths in Gaza, including civilians.

But closer examination of these numbers displays that it also includes an estimated 22,000-25,000 Hamas fighters, around 11,000 natural deaths, and 4,000 casualties caused by internal fighting amongst Gazans. With 1,000 deaths attributed to reporting errors, this suggests that 25,000 casualties were terrorists, and 36,000 were civilians.

One suggestion that has gained momentum on social media suggests that the actual number of Hamas casualties is double this number, at 50,000 combatant deaths.

However, pre-war estimates by the IDF suggest that Hamas had 35,000 combatants. US estimates believe that Hamas recruited 10,000-15,000 new combatants throughout the war. This means that if the IDF had killed 50,000 Hamas terrorists, there would be virtually no Hamas terrorists left — an analysis that is unfortunately not accurate.

The claim of 50,000 eliminated Hamas terrorists is based on an announcement by the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Development of the start of a new program that would provide NIS 500 to the widows of Gazans killed in the war.

By February 8, 2026, payments had been made to 19,306 widows, totaling NIS 9.653 million or over three million US dollars.

The Ministry of Social Development further stated that 50,000 widowed families were set to receive these benefits, implying that more than widowed wives would be receiving the payments. This is likely where some analysts misinterpreted Hamas’ statement and took it to mean that for every Hamas terrorist, one wife would receive a payment. However, this payment is not exclusively for the wives of terrorists, and not every Hamas combatant would have been married by the time of his death.

What these numbers do suggest, however, is that claims of unreported casualties are likely to be false. The ability to receive a payment for reporting a death would presumably encourage many Gazans to submit claims of being widowed.

Since the early days of the war, news outlets and influencers on social media have blindly repeated Hamas’ claim that the majority of casualties were women and children. The claim implied that the IDF was specifically targeting both groups.

Beyond this claim not being true — men of combat age account for around 46.7% of total casualties — data from the World Health Organization (WHO) displays that 603,000 children under the age of 10 were vaccinated at the beginning of 2025. This number exceeds the pre-war population of that age group, indicating that the overall population of young children has remained stable or even grown despite the war.

With births being the same as, if not higher than, pre-war numbers, the claims of underreported casualties and casualties disproportionately targeting children fall apart. Despite this data being publicly available and offering important information about the war’s human toll, it has received no attention in media coverage, allowing the misleading child casualty narrative to persist.

These two case studies of terrorist casualty statistics and the reported number of children under 10 during the war highlight the need to analyze all available data with scrutiny. It is not enough to rely on unverified claims about casualty figures. Instead, accurate conclusions must be based on transparent analysis conducted by credible analysts who rely on publicly available data, verifiable sources, and clear methodology. Only through rigorous examination can casualty figures be properly understood, rather than simply repeated without question.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

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