On February 3, Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine Director, resigned in protest. In his resignation statement, Shakir said the organization’s new leadership blocked the publication of a report documenting Israel’s crimes against humanity by denying Palestinian refugees their internationally enshrined right of return.

His resignation has reignited debate around the “Palestine exception”; the idea that speaking and writing about Palestine is treated differently than work on any other country. The discussion unpacks why the Palestinian right of return  is often met with double standards and continues to be denied today. In this episode of This Is Palestine, host Diana Buttu speaks with Omar Shakir about his decision to resign, his long career in legal advocacy for Palestine, and the internal battle over the blocked report. Thank you for tuning into This is Palestine, the official podcast of The

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