Obsessed: 93% of Ken Roth's "illegal" accusations targeted Israel last month

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:

Bolivia: https://twitter.com/KenRoth/status/1196318814599884801
Indonesia: https://twitter.com/KenRoth/status/1192092188924088320
Brazil: https://twitter.com/KenRoth/status/1191468818872360961

In 2017-2018, 74% of Ken Roth’s tweets alleging illegality targeted Israel:
Israel                                                   53 74%
U.S.                                                      5 7%
EU 3 4%
Italy 3 4%
Iraq 1 1%
Libya                                                    1 1%
Thai junta 1 1%
South Africa (Jacob Zuma) 1 1%
Russia (Putin) 1 1%
Syria (Assad) 1 1%
Yemen (Houthi-Saleh forces) 1 1%
Internet companies 1 1%
TOTAL 72

2018: Who Ken Roth Accused of “Illegal” Actions
June 13, 2018 Israel
June 8, 2018               Internet companies
June 7, 2018               Israel
June 6, 2018 Israel
May 29, 2018              Israel
May 24, 2018              Israel
May 24, 2018              Israel
May 23, 2018              Israel
May 23, 2018              U.S. & Israel
May 22, 2018              Israel
May 9, 2018                Israel
May 8, 2018                EU & Italy
April 30, 2018             Israel
April 27, 2018             U.S.
April 25, 2018             Israel
April 3, 2018               Israel
March 15, 2018          U.S.
February 4, 2018        Israel
February 4, 2018        Israel
February 1, 2018        Israel
January 12, 2018        Israel
January 11, 2018        Israel
January 8, 2018          Israel
Breakdown of 2018 accusations:
Israel 19
U.S. 3
EU 1
Italy 1
Internet companies 1
TOTAL 25

2017: Who Ken Roth Accused of “Illegal” Actions
December 15, 2017    Israel
December 13, 2017    EU, Libya
December 4, 2017      Israel
December 2, 2017      Israel
November 27, 2017    Israel
November 24, 2017    Italy
November 3, 2017      Israel
October 31, 2017        Israel (“illegal settlements” and “illegally demolishing” in one Tweet)
October 27, 2017        Israel
September 29, 2017   Israel
September 13, 2017   Israel
August 23, 2017          Israel
August 3, 2017            Italy
July 4, 2017                 Jacob Zuma (South Africa)
June 15, 2017              Israel
June 9, 2017                Israel
June 7, 2017                Israel
May 18, 2017              Thai junta
May 11, 2017              Israel
May 9, 2017                Israel
April 25, 2017             Israel
April 20, 2017             Houthi-Saleh forces (Yemen)
April 12, 2017             Putin-Assad (Russia, Syria)
April 1, 2017               Israel
March 23, 2017          Israel
March 20, 2017          Israel
March 8, 2017            Israel
March 7, 2017            Israel
February 23, 2017      Israel
February 18, 2017      EU
February 16, 2017      Israel
February 15, 2017      Israel
February 14, 2017      Israel
February 11, 2017      Israel
February 6, 2017        Israel
February 5, 2017        Israel
February 3, 2017        Israel
February 1, 2017        Israel
January 31, 2017        Iraq, Israel (says Iraq “borrows illegal collective punishment” from Israel)
January 23, 2017        Israel
January 11, 2017        U.S.
January 10, 2017         U.S.
January 10, 2017        Israel
January 8, 2017          Israel
January 6, 2017          Israel

Breakdown of 2017 accusations:
Israel 35
U.S. 2
EU 2
Italy 2
Iraq 1
Libya 1
Thai junta                                            1
Jacob Zuma (South Africa) 1
Putin (Russia)                                      1
Assad (Syria)                                       1
Houthi-Saleh forces (Yemen)              1
TOTAL 47

Obsessed: 93% of Ken Roth's "illegal" accusations targeted Israel last month

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