Harvard makes a u-turn and will now offer HRW's Ken Roth a fellowship

Harvard University has made a u-turn and will now offer Kenneth Roth a prestigious fellowship at the institution's Kennedy School.

Controversy erupted earlier this month when it was reported that Mr Roth, who recently retired as Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), would not be offered the fellowship due to the organisation's perceived bias against Israel under his leadership.

His rejection sparked a debate about academic freedom and the limits on criticism of Israel, and Mr Roth also alleged, which he acknowledged he had no evidence for, that wealthy donors to Harvard's Kennedy School intervened to prevent his appointment.

However, the school's dean, Douglas Elmendorf, has now said that the decision to reject Mr Roth was an "error" and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy would now be extending him an invitation to join the institution.

In an email to the Kennedy School faculty and students on Thursday, Mr Elmendorf wrote: “Donors do not affect our consideration of academic matters. My decision was also not made to limit debate at the Kennedy School about human rights in any country.”

According to the New York Times, who obtained a copy of the email, Mr Elmendorf did not explain why he had rejected Mr Roth's fellowship, other than to say that it was “based on my evaluation of his potential contributions to the school.”

On Mr Roth, he added: “I hope that our community will be able to benefit from his deep experience in a wide range of human rights issues.”

Ken Roth GettyImages-905658312

Ken Roth (Getty Images)

The Kennedy School of Government teaches government and public policy, and is very influential in American public life. It claims 17 heads of state among its alumni - more than any other graduate institution in the world, and it is often a revolving door for those who work in academia, government, and for NGOs.

Mr Roth, a Jew whose father fled Nazi Germany as a child, is a controversial figure due to what many perceive as HRW's undue focus on Israel under his leadership.

HRW was founded in 1978 as Helsinki Watch, with a focus on the Soviet Union. Mr Roth, who was executive director from 1993 to 2022, expanded its focus and fundraising. Today, it is a global NGO, like Amnesty International and the UN agencies.

However, it has been the subject of a number of controversies due to its coverage of Israel. In 2006, Mr Roth called Israel’s “eye for an eye” approach in its war with Hezbollah “the morality of some more primitive moment”. The Anti-Defamation League called this “a classic antisemitic stereotype”.

In 2012, Mr Roth argued that Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, then president of Iran, was not inciting genocide against Israel, but rather only “advocating” it.

In 2014, when Israel fought a war against Hamas in Gaza, Mr Roth tweeted an advert in the New York Times and the Guardian accusing Israel of “colonialism, racism, and genocide”, and equating Israel’s alleged “massacre” of Palestinians with “Nazi genocide”. The advert used the tagline “Never again”.

And in 2021, HRW published a much-criticised 217-page report accusing Israel of “apartheid” and “crimes against humanity”.

At the time, Israel-based watchdog organisation NGO Monitor concluded that the report was "fundamentally flawed, using lies, distortions, omissions and blatant double standards to construct a fraudulent and libellous narrative demonising Israel.”

It said that NRW watch "conducted almost no primary research" and accused it of using "cut-and-paste phrases, and quotes and conclusions taken from third-party sources".

Mr Roth said that the aim of the report, which he had “personally spent a lot of time editing,” was to apply legal definitions, rather than equate Israel with South Africa.

“There’s no evidence that what’s happening today is going to go away,” he said. “That’s what led all of us to realise we have to change our paradigm.”

However, in a 2009 op-ed for the New York Times, HRW's founder, the late Robert L. Bernstein, wrote a condemnation of the organisation and its focus on Israel compared to the many autocratic regimes in the region: “In recent years, Human Rights Watch has written far more condemnations of Israel for violations of international law than of any other country in the region."

Reacting to news of Harvard's u-turn on Thursday, NGO Monitor said: "We are disappointed by this decision" issuing a highly critical statement of Mr Roth and his alleged role in the rise of antisemitism during his 30 years as Head of HRW

In a statement posted on Twitter, Roth said he was "thrilled" that his offer was reinstated but he remains "worried about academic freedom" in light of the furore around his appointment.

My statement in response to the decision by Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf to reverse his decision to block a fellowship for me proposed by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. pic.twitter.com/cGW3oP3GrV
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) January 19, 2023