Sari Bashi
Sari Bashi is an anti-Israel Israeli-American activist lawyer. She has been accused by advocacy groups and commentators of promoting an anti-Israel agenda through her work, including bias in human rights "reporting" that disproportionately targets Israel, presenting it unfair, while minimizing threats from Arab "Palestinians" especially genocidal Hamas.
Bashi is the co-founder and former executive director of Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, an Israeli NGO established in 2005 that claims to advocate for Arab Palestinian so-called "freedom of movement," particularly in Gaza.
She later served as Program Director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), where she led global research efforts and was involved in the organization's Israel/Palestine work, including as Israel/Palestine Advocacy Director and collaborating with racist Omar Shakir propaganda. As predicted, her writings and public statements have included ranting against of Israeli policies.[1] and accusations of apartheid apartheid [slur]-like systems.[2] While denying[1] she/HRW actually accuses Israel with the apartheid slur.
Bashi is married to an Arab Palestinian Osama Fahed, originally from Gaza, and they reside in Ramallah under the Palestinian Authority with their children. She has written about their mixed Israeli-Palestinian family.
Criticism
Bashi's work has faced significant criticism from organizations and commentators, who accuse her and associated groups like HRW of systemic anti-Israel bias, demonization of the Jewish state, promotion of BDS-like campaigns, and downplaying Arab Palestinian terrorism or antisemitism while exaggerating Israeli actions.
NGO Monitor has highlighted her influence at HRW (alongside figures like Omar Shakir) as contributing to what they describe as HRW's "demonization" of Israel, intense anti-Israel advocacy that overshadows coverage of Israeli victims, support for boycotts and lawfare, and downplaying of antisemitism.[3][4]
Bashi and Shakir's propaganda has been attributed to boycotts at least since 2018.[5]
CAMERA has criticized her media appearances, including on CNN for alleged undisclosed conflicts of interest in HRW's reporting,[6] and on MSNBC in October 2023, where she described Israeli evacuation warnings to Gazan civilians --following the October 7 Hamas led attacks-- to save them from bombardment, as potentially "terrorism". A moral inversion amid Hamas atrocities.[7]
Additional accusations include grossly lying about Israel's COVID-19 vaccination rollout as supposedly ethnically discriminatory[8] and broader claims of lying or promoting unbalanced narratives against Israel.
Her views, including on Arab Palestinian sp called "right of return[sic]" and one-state solutions, have drawn pushback in Israeli and in some media, though much criticism focuses on her institutional roles rather than purely personal attacks.
On Mar/2024, 'on BBC she couldn’t reply to the question about Hamas embedding itself with civilians in hospitals. All she did is a rant. But not on the bad guys.'[9]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 GLZ@GLZRadio Apr 22, 2021 ([1]):
Attorney Shari Bashi, consultant to Human Rights Watch, to @razibarcay
"We are not saying that Israel is an apartheid state - but rather that the authorities are working to preserve Israel's control over the Palestinians in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea."
- ↑ David Litman (October 16, 2023). Human Rights Watch on MSNBC: Urging Civilians to Evacuate is Terrorism. CAMERA.
- ↑ HRW’s Demonization, BDS, and Downplaying Antisemitism. NGO Monitor (November 30, 2023).
- ↑ HRW's Appointment of Sari Bashi will Amplify Campaigns vs. Israel. NGO Monitor (May 2, 2022).
- ↑ Yifrach, Yehuda. "Sue the boycotters: A comprehensive move against Airbnb is needed", November 24, 2018. Airbnb is not calling for a boycott, but is actually boycotting, but they did so as a result of a campaign by two organizations - Dror Atkes' Kerem Navot, and the international organization Human Rights Watch. The company's announcement coincided with the publication of a report on the subject, signed by both organizations. HRW's representative in Israel, Omar Shakir, who was previously questioned by the court about the legitimacy of his presence in the country due to his activity in the boycott movement, stated that "after two years of engagement (with Airbnb) and one day before the publication of a 65-page report by HRW and Kerem Navot, Airbnb says they will stop brokering rentals in the illegal Israeli settlements. We call on others to follow this path." NGO Monitor refers to the words of Sari Bashi, a former senior HRW official and previously CEO of Gisha, who thanked several organizations for the move, including Jewish Voice for Peace, Code Pink (which participated in the Holocaust denial conference in Iran), and Kerem Navot. NGO Monitor researchers prove that these organizations promoted the lobby against Airbnb in the US.
- ↑ David Litman (August 22, 2022). A Serious Ethical Lapse: CNN International Fails to Disclose Human Rights Watch’s Conflict of Interest. CAMERA.
- ↑ David Litman (October 16, 2023). Human Rights Watch on MSNBC: Urging Civilians to Evacuate is Terrorism. CAMERA.
- ↑ Why Nicholas Kristof is (still) wrong on Israel and Hamas. JNS (June 6, 2021).
- ↑ Intolerant, twisted, untruthful Sari Bashi – ng.
14 Mar 2024.
“ Continuing racist Omar Shakir’s work at HRW, longtime Israelophobe bashing-Sari-Bashi is just that. About bashing. But not the bad guys though. Today, on BBC she couldn’t reply to the question about Hamas embedding itself with civilians in hospitals. All she did is a rant. But not on the bad guys.
Reminding also, at the beginning of the Oct 7 war, what she said in repsonse to saving Arab-palestinans from getting hit, by IDF call for evacuation them. She called this “terrorism,” but she did not use the T word on Hamas, of course. She also lied. A lot.
”