Almost all responses by Israeli officials & their supporters to @hrw apartheid/persecution report have tried to change the topic, often by name calling. Almost none have engaged on merits. A thread laying out our largely unchallenged apartheid finding. 1/6 hrw.org/news/2021/04/2…
Legal treatises, including the Rome Statute to @IntlCrimCourt, identify apartheid as a crime against humanity consisting of three elements: (1) an intent by one group to dominate another; (2) systematic oppression by dominant group over marginalized one; & (3) inhumane acts. 2/6
First, @hrw documented an intent by Israeli authorities to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians across Israel & occupied territory (OPT), using their control over land & demographics to pursue a policy in effect of "maximum land, minimal Palestinians." 3/6
Second, @hrw found that Israeli authorities pursuant to this intent have erected two-tiered system across Israel & OPT, methodologically privileging Jewish Israelis & discriminating to varying degrees against Palestinians. The means used in OPT amount to systematic oppression 4/6
Third Israeli authorities have carried out many abuses against Palestinians. @hrw determined that certain abuses in OPT (sweeping movement restrictions, mass land confiscation, forcible transfer, denial of residency rights & suspension of civil rights) amount to inhumane acts 5/6
To put it simply, @hrw’s apartheid finding is based on (1) a policy pursued by Israeli authorities across Israel & OPT to maintain domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians & (2) severe repression carried out against Palestinians living in OPT #courage2fightapartheid 6/6
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I've resigned from @hrw after 10+ yrs—most as Israel/Palestine Director—after HRW's new ED pulled a finalized report on the right of return for Palestinian refugees on eve of its release & blocked for weeks its publication in a principled way. Full story: jewishcurrents.org/researchers-at…
Milena Ansari, @hrw's indefatigable researcher in Jerusalem, has also resigned. The two of us made up the organization’s Israel/Palestine team. Our last day was yesterday. See the @guardian's account: theguardian.com/world/2026/feb…
After decade+ attesting far & wide to the integrity of @hrw work, I feel a duty to acknowledge when we get it wrong. Researchers are doing vital work—but this decision calls into question the new leadership's commitment to principled reporting on facts & application of the law.
It's not just Gaza. New @hrw 105 pg report finds that Israel’s emptying of three West Bank refugee camps since early 2025—forcibly displacing 32,000 people & destroying 100s of homes—amount to war crimes, ethnic cleansing & crimes against humanity. A🧵1/7 hrw.org/news/2025/11/2…
This is the second largest—after Gaza—displacement of Palestinians since 1967. Displaced refugees told us how Israeli forces methodically forced them out at gunpoint, fired at those who tried to return & left them to fend for themselves in dire conditions. A second Nakba. 2/7
Our review of satellite imagery shows 850+ homes & other buildings destroyed or heavily damaged across the camps in the operation’s first six months. Here’s Jenin Refugee Camp before and after six months of Israeli military operations. See the detailed slider in the report. 3/7
Israel's April 1 strike killing 7 @WCKitchen aid workers was no anomaly—new @hrw report finds that Israel has repeatedly struck known locations of aid convoys & premises. 250+ aid workers have been killed since Oct 7. Perpetrators must be held to account.🧵 hrw.org/news/2024/05/1…
We @hrw documented 8 cases in which aid organizations or UN agencies shared the GPS coordinates of an aid convoy or premises with Israeli authorities & yet Israeli forces attacked them without warning. These Israeli attacks killed 15 people—including 2 kids—& injured 16 others.
On Nov 18, Israeli forces fired on convoy of five marked @MSF cars, killing two people. MSF coordinated their movements w the Israeli army & followed the route they designated. There were no apparent military targets in area. MSF requested an explanation, but received no reply.
Breaking: new @hrw report documents another apparent Israeli war crime—Oct 31 strike on central Gaza apartment building killing 106+ civilians, including 54 kids, many playing football. No evidence of military target—making strike unlawfully indiscriminate hrw.org/news/2024/04/0…
350 people lived in building—including 150 who were displaced. When Israel struck, many kids were playing football outside building; others gathered to charge their phones in rare grocery store that had power amid Israeli electricity cuts. Members of 14 families killed in instant
This is one of 31000+ Israeli strikes. More Palestinians killed on average per day since Oct 7 than in this strike. Israel's blocking of entry to investigators & killing of journalists makes deep-dive investigations difficult, but this one points to many yet unreported war crimes
This week's momentous Int'l Court of Justice hearings on legal consequences of Israel's 57-year occupation highlight the growing global consensus that Israel's repression of Palestinians amounts to apartheid. A🧵of excerpts from the proceedings (to be updated as statements go up)
South Africa "beseeches @CIJ_ICJ to examine the institutionalized régime of discriminatory laws, policies & practices applied by Israel alongside the definition of the crime of apartheid & to find that Israel subjects Palestinians to what constitutes an apartheid régime" (Feb 20)
Saudi Arabia to @CIJ_ICJ (Feb 20): "There can be no serious debate that Israeli policies & practices also amount to racial discrimination & are tantamount to apartheid, in grave violation of the Palestinian people’s human rights."
Israeli authorities are signaling their intent to commit mass atrocities. They must be stopped. A thread 1/10
The Hamas-led massacre shook Israelis to their core—many know someone killed when fighters shot up crowds, taken as hostages/paraded about or narrowly survived by barricading themselves as militants infiltrated homes. They committed heinous crimes & should be held to account 2/10
But that’s not what Israeli officials are calling for—they want revenge, using incendiary language & suggesting that the entire population of Gaza—2.2+ million people, half of whom are children—should be collectively punished. Some examples 3/10