Yet in his April 2022 departing statement, Roth bizarrely claimed that objections to his biased views are misplaced due to the fact that he has Jewish roots.

“I am leaving Human Rights Watch but I am not leaving the human rights cause,” the leading activist vowed at the time of his resignation while announcing a book about his personal experiences. 

This summer, Ken Roth was denied a fellowship at Harvard’s Kennedy School, The Nation reported on January 5. According to the 5,000-word puff piece written by Michael Massing, entitled “Why the Godfather of Human Rights Is Not Welcome at Harvard,” Dean Douglas Elmendorf cited Roth’s anti-Israel bias when he vetoed the invitation by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

“Roth’s tweets on Israel were of particular concern,” The Nation quoted Roth’s supporters at the institute as saying.

Invoking classic antisemitic tropes about Jewish power and control, and without providing any solid evidence, the progressive magazine then conspiratorially suggested that Jewish and pro-Israel donors might have influenced Elmendorf’s decision to refuse Roth a position.

Crucially, in a January 10 opinion piece published by the British paper, Roth conceded that he does not know if “supporters of Israel” had anything to do with his failure to secure a fellowship at the prestigious school. 

In the same op-ed, he laughably asserted to have paid the price for his principles — the presumed millionaire seemingly forgot he once secured a $470,000 gift from a Saudi donor by promising not to use the funds to defend LGBT rights in the Middle East.

However, in keeping with Roth’s usual modus operandi, Israel is guilty until proven innocent, and other reasonable explanations are quickly dismissed. “As best we can tell, donor reaction was his concern,” he explained, “The Kennedy School spokesperson has not denied it.”