• The addition of Nadia Barhoum, a pro-Palestinian campus activist, to HRW’s Middle East and North Africa Division, increases the political bias reflected in the activities and backgrounds of Sarah Leah Whitson, Joe Stork, and previous staff (Lucy Mair, formerly of Electric Intifada). This is inconsistent with HRW’s claimed “even-handedness and accuracy. “
• Barhoum was an active member in Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of California, Berkeley. SJP promotes the Durban agenda of demonization of Israel, using terms such as “apartheid,” as well as accusations of “mass atrocities. “
• In promoting divestment, Barhoum wrote: “Our university should not profit from bloodshed. Our university should not invest in apartheid. “
• At a Sabeel Conference, she participated in a “guerilla theater action” of a mock IDF checkpoint, claiming to raise awareness that “human rights are violated” by US tax dollars (through financial support of Israel).
• Barhoum’s “Palestina” blog includes references to Israel as “a military state . . . ,” Israeli “crimes against humanity,” erases all traces of terror, and repeats Palestinian political messages: in Gaza, people “are starving because the israeli military refuses to open up the gazan border…. [sic]“

Nadia Barhoum’s Background

Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently hired an Associate for its Middle East and North Africa Division — Nadia Barhoum. Barhoum’s background as a Palestinian activist who uses “apartheid” rhetoric and supports divestment from Israel suggests that her work at HRW will not be objective.  Her addition to the staff based in New York reinforces the anti-Israel political agenda of the senior members of the Middle East and North Africa Division.

As an undergraduate, Nadia Barhoum, a Palestinian-American, was an active member in Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of California, Berkeley; in 2005, she was the group’s publicity chair. SJP espouses the “Right of return and repatriation for all” (a euphemism for the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state), and calls Israel an “apartheid state” alleging that “the Israeli system of controlling the Palestinian people and maintaining Jewish control . . . matches many of apartheid South Africa’s goals of maintaining White control over the government. ” On its website, SJP claims that in 1948, “Zionist militia groups violently took over the land that became Israel” and “committed mass atrocities that led to the expulsion of approximately 700,000 indigenous Palestinians from their homes. ”

Barhoum herself has used the “apartheid” rhetoric of the Durban strategy, stating the SJP’s “message . . . is to resist occupation and end the apartheid-like framework which is found in Palestine-Israel. “  Barhoum was involved in a campaign calling on the University of California to “divest from Israel,” and urging its students to “join the struggle against the occupation of Palestine. ” In promoting divestment, Barhoum and her fellow activists declared: “Our university should not profit from bloodshed. Our university should not invest in apartheid. ” Her published article also included the tendentious allegation that “Jewish settlements stand atop recently flattened Palestinian homes, schools and hospitals. ” The history of Arab rejectionism and violence was erased.

In September 2007, Barhoum attended a Sabeel Conference in Berkeley, participating in a “guerilla theater action” of a mock IDF checkpoint, claiming to raise awareness that “human rights are violated” by US tax dollars (through financial support of Israel). Sabeel is a leading Palestinian NGO in the anti-Israel church divestment campaign. Its founder and head, Reverend Naim Ateek, has repeatedly questioned Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and often employs antisemitic theological themes in his sermons and essays. Sabeel’s conferences are platforms for the NGO to advance a highly distorted narrative of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Barhoum was also a student representative to a “right of return” conference run by Al-Awda California, another NGO involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy. Al-Awda’s statements equate Zionism with racism:

Al-Awda regards the ‘Israeli’ definition of Jewish nationals, granting exclusive rights to citizenship and land to any Jew from anywhere in the world, as part of the racism and discrimination inherent in Zionist ideology which underlies the policies and laws of the settler state of ‘Israel. ‘

The group’s website contains an image of a placard with the phrase, “USA Stop Funding Israeli Terrorism!”

Nadia Barhoum spent a year in “Palestine” at Birzeit University and wrote a blog chronicling her travels.  In her observations, the only references to Israelis are negative and in the context of Palestinian suffering – there is no mention of terrorism and its impact. In one entry, she writes, “I’m just beginning to see how life operates under a military state . . . the economy, and political and social life are permanently and continuously penetrated by the practices of the Israeli government, military, and its citizens, namely the settlers on the west bank. “  To emphasize her message, she erases the major deliveries of food aid from Israel to Gaza, alleging, “people in gaza right now are starving because the israeli military refuses to open up the gazan border to allow food through. seriously, if that is not a crime against humanity, i dont know what is. maybe that the international community stands by in silence. [sic]“

One Response to “HRW Hires Another pro-Palestinian Activist”

1. Ben Says:
   July 7th, 2010 at 4:16 pm

   They are well above their carrying capacity of the land they are currently on (referencing africa needing food aid) due to modern medicine and ancient breeding habits. Refering to the post I kept thinking wouldnt it have been ironic and sadly truthful if during their mock check points someone came up posing as a sucide bomber and they catch them and stop them… that would have turned the whole thing on its head and show why they need the check points.

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