We At Human Rights Watch Are So Concerned About Afghanistan, We Went A Whole Hour Without Tweeting About Israel

By Ken Roth, Director

What is happening in Afghanistan is as horrific as it was preventable, which compounds the tragedy. Our organization’s anxiety regarding recent developments there has increased to the point that one day two weeks ago, and again this past Friday, our official Twitter account focused exclusively on it for sixty entire minutes, with nary a message defaming Israel posted during that time. That is how seriously we take these events.

Under ordinary circumstances we at Human Rights Watch maintain a laser-like focus on what truly matters, i.e. the satanic, vile nature of the world’s only Jewish state as characterized by opponents of Jewish self0defense and sovereignty, whom we are happy to employ with no critical lens on their work. On occasion, however, a development so momentous and cataclysmic in its human rights implications occurs somewhere other than Palestine – I know, it’s crazy, right? You and me both, pal – that credibility demands we address it with more than the token sympathy we sporadically issue for Jews who should have known better than to be so Jewy.

The last time I can recall a sixty-minute stretch without an anti-Israel tweet from HRW – either the official account, my professional account, or that of one of our specially-focused researchers of whom, wouldn’t you know it, not a single one is dedicated to the ongoing human rights debacle that has been Afghanistan for upwards of forty years – was when Twitter suffered a major outage in 2015. You can bet we made up for that drought in the hours that followed, though. Couldn’t have our Saudi, Qatari, and who knows which other donors thinking we’ve gone soft on our core issue.

If the world were to lose focus on Palestine as the central animating issue of our time, then actual, meaningful change might take place elsewhere in the world, and that would undermine the entire world order that our organization supports, and that supports our organization. China. Nigeria. Russia. Belarus. Myanmar. Pakistan. Iran. Afghanistan. Cuba. Yemen. Lebanon. Syria. Venezuela. All those countries face, and perpetuate, immense human rights problems that, if the world were to pay them proper attention, could be addressed in a heartbeat – which is exactly what our chief funding sources are trying to avoid. Can you imagine transparency regarding Turkey’s suppression of the free press? Neither can we, if we know what’s good for our bank account.

So yeah, a whole hour. It was excruciating.

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