Researchers at Human Rights Watch Resign Over Blocked Report on Palestinian Refugee Return

Source: Jewish Currents

Researchers at Human Rights Watch Resign Over Blocked Report on Palestinian Refugee Return

The departures have roiled the prominent watchdog group over a decision one staffer called “unprincipled and cowardly.”

Alex Kane
February 3, 2026

Two Human Rights Watch (HRW) employees who make up the organization’s entire Israel and Palestine team are stepping down from their positions after leadership blocked a report that deems Israel’s denial of Palestinian refugees’ right of return a “crime against humanity.”

In separate resignation letters obtained by Jewish Currents, Omar Shakir, who has headed the team for nearly the last decade, and Milena Ansari, the team’s assistant researcher, said leadership’s decision to pull the report before its scheduled publication on December 4th broke from HRW’s customary approval processes and was evidence that the organization was putting fear of political backlash over a commitment to international law. “I have lost my faith in the integrity of how we do our work and our commitment to principled reporting on the facts and application of the law,” wrote Shakir in his resignation letter. “As such, I am no longer able to represent or work for Human Rights Watch.” (Disclosure: Shakir is a member of Jewish Currents’s Advisory Board.)

The resignations have roiled one of the most prominent human-rights groups in the world just as HRW’s new executive director, Philippe Bolopion, begins his tenure. In a statement, HRW said that the report “raised complex and consequential issues. In our review process, we concluded that aspects of the research and the factual basis for our legal conclusions needed to be strengthened to meet Human Rights Watch’s high standards.” They said that “the publication of the report was paused pending further analysis and research,” and that the process was “ongoing.”

In an interview with Jewish Currents, Shakir said he worried that HRW planned to “take the finalized report back to the drawing board,” giving leadership “the opportunity to kill or distort the report at different stages.” ...

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Read more: https://jewishcurrents.org/researchers-at-human-rights-watch-resign-over-blocked-report-on-palestinian-refugee-return