Joe Stork
Joe Stork is an American political activist and Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch. He holds an M.A. in International Affairs/Middle East Studies from Columbia University.[1]
Career
Before joining Human Rights Watch in 1996, Stork co-founded the Middle East Research & Information Project (MERIP)[2] and was editor of the Middle East Report.[3] Stork served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkey.[4] He presently serves as Chair of the Middle East Studies Association's Committee on Academic Freedom and sits on the advisory committees of the American Friends Service Committee, Foreign Policy in Focus and the Iraq Revenue Watch project of the Open Society Institute[5]
Stork of attended a 1976 anti-Israel conference in Syria organized by Saddam Hussein, after which, according to his critics, he wrote "bitterly anti-Zionist screeds."[6]
In August 2009, Israeli journalist Ben-Dror Yemini accused Stork, Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa[7] of being "a fanatical supporter of the elimination of Israel", "a veteran supporter of Palestinian terrorism", a "radical Marxist whose positions have not changed over the years" and alleged that he supported the 1972 Munich Massacare.[8] Yemini's article in Maariv followed the publication of HRW's "White Flag Deaths: Killings of Palestinian Civilians during Operation Cast Lead" report which documented alleged violations of the laws of war by Israeli forces during Operation Cast Lead.[9]David Bernstein has written that "one thing that Stork did NOT do...is support the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists" in referance to the Ma'ariv article [10].
Stork's reports have caused a rift between Human Rights Watch and Sid Sheinberg, vice-chair of HRW’s board. [11]
According to Gerald M. Steinberg, director of NGO Monitor, Stork "spent over 20 years as a founder and editor of MERIP, an anti-Zionist and anti-American organization."[12]
Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated that "a whole series of individuals who work in the Middle East department of Human Rights Watch have histories in partisan anti-Israeli politics," including Stork, and said that "This is the real story, because Human Rights Watch is claiming to be objective, professional and credible, yet all the evidence points to the contrary."[13]
Books and other publications
Political Islam: A Reader by Joel Beinin and Joe Stork
Political Islam: Essays from "Middle East Report" by Joel Beinin and Joe Stork
Middle East Oil and the Energy Crisis by Joe Stork
References
- ^ http://www.hrw.org/en/bios/joe-stork
- ^ http://www.hrw.org/en/bios/joe-stork
- ^ American Expressions of Relief over Iran-Iraq Peace, AMERICAN EXPRESSIONS OF RELIEF OVER IRAN-IRAQ PEACE, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Aug 22, 1988.
- ^ http://www.hrw.org/en/bios/joe-stork
- ^ http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Joe_Stork
- ^ Broken Watch; Does Human Rights Watch have an Israel problem?, Allison Hoffman, Tablet Magazine, Aug. 26, 2009 [1]
- ^ "Human Rights Watch Staff". Human Rights Warch. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
- ^ Ben-Dror Yemini, The Big Lie of HRW : Author of Report Against Israel Supported Munich Massacre, 16.8.2009, orginally published in Hebrew in Maariv
- ^ "False Allegations about Human Rights Watch's Latest Gaza Report". Human Rights Watch. 2009-08-14. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
- ^ http://volokh.com/posts/1250601131.shtml
- ^ Broken Watch; Does Human Rights Watch have an Israel problem?, Allison Hoffman, Tablet Magazine, Aug. 26, 2009 [2]
- ^ Right of Reply: Isolating Israel through language of human rights, Gerald Steinberg, Jerusalem Post, Aug. 30, 2009 [3]
- ^ HRW analyst suspended over Nazi items, E.B. SOLOMONT AND HERB KEINON, Jerusalem Post, Sept. 16, 2009 [4]