Former Human Rights Watch Exec Dismisses Hostages Of Hamas As ‘Utter Irrelevancies’

 A former head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) described dozens of hostages held by Hamas as “utter irrelevancies” on Wednesday.

Kenneth Roth, a visiting professor at Princeton and the former executive director of HRW, accused the Israeli government of giving “diversionary excuses” in response to charges against two top officials by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The ICC charged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, of committing war crimes in the war against Hamas in Gaza.

One of the “excuses” cited by Roth is Israel’s mission to rescue roughly 100 hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, terror attack.

“The Israeli government responded to the ICC war-crime charges with the usual diversionary excuses – the need to liberate the hostages, Hamas’s use of human shields, Israel’s democracy and self-defense, supposed ICC antisemitism – all utter irrelevancies,” Roth said in a post on X.

In a later post, Roth said that the ICC charges are not about whether Israel’s war is just, but about “HOW [Israel] is waging the war. Nothing justifies war crimes.” But he also called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and said Israel’s only reason for continuing the war in Gaza was Netanyahu’s “need for a forever war to retain power and avoid prison…”

Roth served as the executive director of HRC from 1993 to 2022. He received pushback online for his characterization of the hostages held by Hamas.

“I can think of 101 people, in addition to their families, who might argue that the hostages are not ‘utterly irrelevant’ to IDF operations in Gaza,” Melissa Weiss, executive editor of Jewish Insider, wrote on X.

International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky called Roth “an absolute heartless monster.”

Adam Cannon, the director of legal at the British tabloid The Sun, saidthat Roth’s post showcases the “huge anti Israel bias” as HRC.

Cannon wrote to Roth on X: “Your dismissal of the Hamas atrocities and the hostage they took on Oct 7 just illustrates your total lack of understanding or maybe just abject bias when it comes to this conflict, undermining an organisation which should be at the forefront of helping solve the issues.”