Human Rights Watch ties to terrorist organizations exposed

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is catching heat again, this time over some pretty shady connections in its Middle East reporting. A new report from the Israeli watchdog group NGO Monitor is calling out the organization, claiming its “honest” coverage of Gaza and beyond is tainted by staffers with ties to terrorist groups. And it’s not just a few bad apples—HRW’s getting millions from big-name left-leaning donors like George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which only adds fuel to the fire.

Take Milena Ansari, an Arab researcher who landed a gig with HRW after nearly three years at Addameer, a Ramallah outfit that Israel’s Defense Ministry blacklisted in 2021 for being a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). While there, Ansari didn’t shy away from defending some rough characters like PFLP terrorist Salah Hamouri, nailed in 2005 for plotting to take out Israel’s chief rabbi. In 2022, when Israel deported Hamouri, Ansari was all over it, saying, “With Allah’s grace, he’s doing fine. These prisoners, despite all the crap they go through, still have this fierce resistance in them.” She doubled down in another chat, insisting, “Israel thinks shipping Salah off to France will shut him up, that he’ll get distracted by the pretty sights and forget Palestine’s pain. I’m not buying it.” On a podcast that same year, she went further: “Palestinians have every right to fight this occupation however they can.”

Then there’s Mahdi Sadeq, who runs the Nabatieh Emergency Rescue Service Association and got cozy with HRW for a report last month accusing Israel of war crimes in Lebanon. After Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah bit the dust in September, Sadeq posted a weepy tribute with a broken heart emoji: “Didn’t realize how deep my love for you ran. Blessings to you, our master.” HRW still leaned on him hard, quoting him saying, “We’ve had nothing to eat for three days. Shops, restaurants, banks, pharmacies everything’s gone.” They knew who he was and ran with it anyway.

Gerald Steinberg, NGO Monitor’s head honcho, didn’t hold back when he talked to the Washington Free Beacon. “For 25 years, HRW’s been trotting out propagandists and terror pals as their go to ‘experts,’” he said. “Their so called reports are just a dressed up smear campaign against Israel, hiding behind the mask of research.” It’s a tough look for an outfit that’s supposed to be about human rights, not picking sides with folks who’ve got blood on their hands. As the cash keeps flowing from Soros and company, the questions about HRW’s credibility aren’t going anywhere.