Executive Summary

A new study shows that over an 18-month period Ken Roth, the head of Human Rights Watch, devoted more than 70% of his tweets alleging “illegal” acts to the criticism of one single country: Israel. By contrast, Roth devoted only 1% of his tweets to accusing Iraq, Libya, Russia, Syria or Yemen of illegal actions, according to an examination of his tweets over an 18-month period from January 1, 2017 to June 2018.

In addition, a study of Roth’s tweets over the past two months shows that, in November and December 2019, out of 57 tweets where Roth accused a country of “illegal” actions, 50 of them, or 88 percent, targeted Israel. In November, Roth tweeted one similar accusation each on the U.S., Lebanon, Turkey and Brazil.

In November 2019 alone, out of 42 tweets in which Ken Roth accused a country of “illegal” actions, 39 of them — being 93 percent — targeted Israel. Roth tweeted one similar accusation each on Bolivia, Brazil and Indonesia.

In the same 2-month period, despite widespread and systematic acts of oppression by the world’s worst regimes, in violation of international human rights law including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Roth failed to tweet any such accusation against China, Russia, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Iraq, Cuba, Hamas, Myanmar, Pakistan or Venezuela.

Accused by @KenRoth of "illegal" actions in past 2 months:

?? North Korea 0

?? Venezuela 0

?? Indonesia 1

?? Myanmar 0

?? Lebanon 1

?? Pakistan 0

?‍☠️ Hamas 0

?? Bolivia 1

?? Turkey 1

?? Russia 0

?? China 0

?? Saudi 0

?? Israel 50

?? Brazil 2

?? Syria 0

?? Iraq 0

?? Iran 0

?? US 1 — Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 29, 2019



Methodology

The study searched the word “illegal” in Ken Roth’s twitter feed, and from within those results, counted every instance in which Roth accused a country of illegal actions.

The word “illegal” is a powerful term. Lawyer Ken Roth appears to be using this term and accusation deliberately and repeatedly concerning one country only. In other contexts, for example in opposing the use of the word “illegal” to describe immigrants, Roth has confirmed that he considers this term significant. (See here, here and here.)

In one instance, Roth actually managed to employ the “illegal” accusation against Israel twice in a single tweet, even as, in the same year, he failed to use the same term concerning gross and systematic violations of international law by the oppressive regimes of Venezuela, China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, the Palestinian Authority, Myanmar, Pakistan or Qatar — to name but a few.

Israel isn't only building illegal settlements. It's also illegally demolishing Palestinian homes. https://t.co/ExDGx3tKW8 — Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) October 31, 2017



In a rare moment on January 31, 2017, Roth accused another Middle Eastern country of illegal actions: “Iraq demolishes homes of families of alleged ISIS members—illegal collective punishment.” However, he couldn’t complete this tweet without first referencing his favorite obsession, which appears to have been the primary point of the tweet after all, and so the full text actually reads: “Borrowing page from Israel, Iraq demolishes…”

Borrowing page from Israel, Iraq demolishes homes of families of alleged ISIS members–illegal collective punishment https://t.co/ursQlNJu77 pic.twitter.com/PDEZtRLE6F — Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) January 31, 2017





DATA ON KEN ROTH TWEETS

2019 in November-December: Who Ken Roth Accused of “Illegal” Actions

December 2019

Ken Roth Tweets accusing Israel of “illegal” actions:

Ken Roth tweets accusing other countries of “illegal” actions:



November 2019

Ken Roth Tweets accusing Israel of “illegal” actions:

Ken Roth tweets accusing other countries of “illegal” actions: