Sarah Leah Whitson
@sarahleah1
Executive Director of DAWN @dawnmenaorg Formerly ED of MENA Division at Human Rights Watch
The new name of the street in front of the Saudi consulate in #LosAngeles

So.. officially, I'm the last Black staff columnist left in the Washington Post's opinion section.
"Amid the horrors of Israel’s extermination campaign in Gaza, it is easy to overlook the West Bank’s escalating violence and dispossession," writes Tom Pollitt on @louistheroux's "The Settlers" in @DAWN_Journal. "It exposes what many prefer not to see." dawnmena.org/louis-therouxs…
“The Iranian government’s long record of cover-ups and lack of transparency, along with its vague responses, have only deepened public fear and suspicion,” said @Omid_M, an Iran expert at @DAWNmenaorg, a Washington-based foreign policy research institute. “People are aware the…
Social media photos showing a female Israeli army technician writing the name of the victim of Iran's morality police Mahsa Amini on a munition used in an airstrike on Iran. As per updated figures, 1,062 Iranians, including 140 women and children were killed by Israel in the war
Update on the modalities of Israel's genocide in Gaza "Eleven-minute race for food: how aid points in Gaza became ‘death traps’" theguardian.com/global-develop… @martinshawx @MacaesBruno @mehdirhasan @owenjonesjourno @sarahleah1
"Instead of letting corporate special interests distort our foreign and military policies, we need to press for an approach that puts strategic considerations first. That will mean taking steps to reduce the power of the arms makers, new and old, through steps such as stronger…
Federal Court Agrees Trump Administration’s ICC Sanctions Likely Violate Advocates’ First Amendment Rights nytimes.com/2025/07/19/us/…
With only two months left on her sentence, Saudi authorities continue to wrongfully detain journalist Maha Al-Rafidi.A six-year prison term and a six-year travel ban for a tweet is not justice, it's a brutal silencing of dissent. The world is watching. #MahaAlRafidi
The dam of Gaza genocide denial has well and truly broken. While Israel’s supporters in the West still reject the charge, many media outlets are coming off the fence. Genocide scholar @martinshawx reflects on this shift in the discourse for @newlinesmag. newlinesmag.com/argument/the-d…
This near-daily shooting and killing of people who are being starved by the Israeli government is a horrific crime that we must stop. The Washington Post news headline today: "79 Gazans killed waiting for food after Israeli troops open fire, medics say..."…
The Israeli Authorities are starving civilians in #Gaza. Among them are 1 million children. Lift the siege: allow UNRWA to bring in food and medicines.
(cuz everyone in the entire world is anti-semitic, right?) Israel Refuses to Renew Visa of Top U.N. Humanitarian Official for Gaza nytimes.com/2025/07/21/wor…
🚨 BREAKTHROUGH. For the first time, Israeli war crimes suspects have been arrested and interrogated in Europe over war crimes in Gaza. This follows a criminal complaint filed by @Glan_Law & the @HindRFoundation in Belgium. 🧵hindrajabfoundation.org/perpetrators/b…
All well and good to put out a statement demanding immediate ceasefire and end to Israeli blockade on food but without consequences -- sanctions and divestment, end to diplomatic relations -- this has zero impact. We'll well beyond the "demand" phase 20 months into genocide; we…
The UK and 25 Countries — incl. 🇦🇺 🇦🇹 🇧🇪 🇨🇦 🇩🇰 🇪🇪 🇫🇮 🇫🇷 🇮🇸 🇮🇪 🇮🇹 🇱🇻 🇱🇹 🇱🇺 🇳🇱 🇳🇿 🇳🇴 🇵🇱 🇵🇹 🇸🇮 🇪🇸 🇸🇪 🇬🇧+ the 🇪🇺 EU Commissioner for Crisis Management have issued a powerful joint statement: The war in Gaza must end — now. They call for: 🔹 Immediate, unconditional & permanent…
“The people, the ordinary people of Britain, are in solidarity with the people of Palestine, our government one day will catch up,” @jeremycorbyn told DAWN's @sarahleah1, at The Hague Group's emergency session in Bogotá, Colombia last week.
Parsing hairs just like the Biden admin did before you, with this absurd distinction of offensive v defensive weapons. There is no justification for any US weapons to Israel as its genocide continues.
In @DAWN_Journal's latest, a local Yemeni reporter reports on worsening press freedoms in the war-torn country. "Stifling media freedom and repressing any dissent in both the north and south has become a hallmark of Yemen’s prolonged war—with no end in sight."…
‘Killed seeking aid.’ When did the world just sit back and let an increasingly rogue government do this to a civilian population, day after day?
At least 73 Palestinians killed seeking aid, as Israel issues evacuation orders in central Gaza itv.com/news/2025-07-2…
"Israel is blocking 6,000 UNRWA trucks from entering Gaza while children die of hunger." 972mag.com/gaza-starving-…
Whole world is really just going to sit back and let this happen
85% of Gaza’s population have entered the "fifth stage" of malnutrition — the most critical and dangerous phase, which is often irreversible even if food becomes available in the future.