After working as a columnist for the Associated Press and Reuters, Haas was a long-time senior proofreader for HRW.
HRW deeply disdains Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and control of the West Bank
Haas acknowledged that the analysis was legitimate but said HRW was positive from now on.
An outgoing senior executive at the Joint Freedoms Watch (HRW) accused the association of politicizing its handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and explained that the association’s bias towards Israel peaked following the Hamas attacks on October 7, which involved 1,200 people. He was killed in southern Israel.
Who is Danielle Haas?
In an internal email sent to north of 500 workers on her last day at HRW, Danielle Haas assured that long-term hierarchical changes after the October 7 attacks had ended in responses that compromised impressive skills, abandoned standards of sensitivity and politeness, and ignored rules. The obligation of everyone to defend their fundamental freedoms. The email was leaked to The Hours of Israel.
Danielle Haas’s farewell message to colleagues @hrw:
Dear Human Rights Watch,
Because we live in dangerous times, and because this organization is a human rights organization committed to freedom of expression, open dialogue, and rights for all, I am sending one last email before I leave HRW. I am hopeful but…
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) 22 November 2023
HRW responded to Haas’s email with a claim that Haas’s flight was unimportant to the association’s work on Israel-Palestine and that he was chosen well before October 7. Haas confirmed that HRW chose to handle its case in September.
HRW took care to provide detailed information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and stated that it applied similar rules to other people on this issue. In any case, Haas, who worked at HRW for quite some time and more recently covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a columnist for the Associated Press and Reuters, condemned HRW for going beyond legitimate analysis of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
Haas, who is Jewish and dually Israeli, assured: “Some forms of Israeli-Palestinian mastery were more respected than others.
He included the length of HRW’s annual worldwide survey section on Israel, ensuring that it was longer than those on abusive concessions to countries such as Iran and North Korea. Haas also rebuked HRW’s 2021 report accusing Israel of politically sanctioned racial discrimination, expressing concern that the association’s cautious legal arguments are likely to go entirely unheeded and could be abused, including by Hamas allies who casually use the term.
Moreover, Haas expressed his concerns that discrimination against Jews would increase his abuse at HRW, stating that he handled this issue with a senior manager who recognized his interests, but took no action. He likewise condemned HRW’s key statement after the October 7 attacks, arguing that it incompletely addressed the situation, which contrasted with the association’s extensive history of condemning the denial of fundamental freedoms.
