The Israeli high court of justice on Tuesday approved the government’s decision to deport the local director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) for allegedly supporting a boycott movement known as BDS.
Omar Shaker a US citizen was given 20 days to leave Israel and the Palestinian territories or he would face deportation his lawyer said.
Shaker wrote on Twitter that if he was banished Israel would join the ranks of Iran North Korea and Egypt in blocking access to Human Rights Watch staff. “We won’t stop. And we won’t be the last” he said.
HRW called the Israeli government’s attempts to deport Shaker which have been going on for more than a year a sign that Israel was seeking to suppress criticism.
“The supreme court has effectively declared that free expression in Israel does not include completely mainstream advocacy for Palestinian rights” said Kenneth Roth the group’s executive director.
Shaker will be removed under a contentious 2017 law that allows the government to block entry to people who support a boycott of Israel or Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The measure was designed to criminalize the boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Rights groups say it tramples on free speech as the law has been deployed against critics and activists.
In its most high-profile use Israel blocked in August two US congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from a planned trip to Palestine and Jerusalem.
