Hagai El-Ad
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2017-045-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2017
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: 31.046051
Longitude: 34.851612
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Israel
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- UN Special Procedures: Country
- Dates of prior UN action
- 13 April 2017
- Type of record
- Named individual
- Gender
- Male
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Individual's/organization's activity
Director-General of B’Tselem; Mr. El-Ad had warned of the expansion of settlements and the deteriorating situation of human rights for Palestinians.
- Type of rights defended
- Caste/Ethnic minorities' rights/Racism
- Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
addressing issues in United Nations forums and Statement made to the Security Council
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Security Council
- Unclear
- Dates of engagement
- October 2016
- Type of attempted engagement
- Participation in meeting on UN premises
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- Around October 2016
- Reprisal information
was publicly condemned by high-level Israeli officials. One Member of Parliament called for the revocation of his citizenship
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Defamation / Defamation campaign
- Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- State actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- Yes
- Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
- No
- Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
- No
- Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 1
- In which SG report was this case followed up on? 0
- 2019
- Follow up information provided in SG report 0
The case of Mr. Hagai El-Ad, the Director-General of B’Tselem was included in the 2017 report of the Secretary-General (A/HRC/36/31, para. 38 and Annex I, para. 43). On 20 December 2018, seven special procedures mandate holders addressed a new incident in October 2018 where Mr. El-Ad again briefed the Security Council about the human rights situation in the OPT and faced harassment (ISR 14/2018). They noted that many in the Israeli political leadership had denounced B’Tselem, calling the organization unpatriotic, traitors and political outcasts. The mandate holders stated that “the labelling of Mr. El-Ad as “traitor” and “collaborator” may serve to stigmatize his work as harmful to national security, including by disparaging them in the eyes of the public, and creating an atmosphere of harassment that could lead to physical violence.” 64. The March 2019 report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/40/43, para. 30) also noted that a number of senior Israeli officials publicly condemned Mr. El-Ad. The High Commissioner’s report noted that the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations had accused Mr. El-Ad of defaming his Government, called him a “lousy collaborator” and said that if he had been Palestinian or Bolivian he would “likely end up dead.” 140
- Followup Trends 0
- Deterioration/further reprisals
- Did the government respond? 0
- No
- Was this case followed up by a UN body? 0
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic
- Unclear