(July 1, 2025 Washington, D.C.) — In response to reports of a new Israeli directive to ban employees of DAWN, along with other respected human rights and legal advocacy organizations including Al-Haq Europe, Law for Palestine, and Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR), from entering Israel, aiming to punish and suppress accountability efforts for war crimes, apartheid, and genocide, DAWN issues the following:
"Israel is now banning human rights organizations from even entering the country to expose and seek accountability for the atrocities and crimes it is committing," said Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN's executive director. "Israel's ban against organizations seeking accountability for IDF abuses is only the latest indication of its growing isolation in the international community."
"Israel's decision to blacklist DAWN is a desperate attempt to block scrutiny of its crimes against the Palestinian people," said Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at DAWN. "We will not be intimidated by authoritarian tactics and will continue our work to expose Israel's violations of international law until there is full accountability and justice."
"It's hard to imagine greater validation of DAWN's work to hold accountable Israeli officials and soldiers than being banned from entering the country specifically because of that work," said Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, director for Israel-Palestine at DAWN. "This is nevertheless a worrying harbinger of even greater Israeli repression of human rights defenders, be they Palestinian, Israeli, or American."
