This is really classic. Deputy director of Human Rights Watch in the Middle East condemned the statement of Lebanese foreign minister, Jubran Basil, in which he called for excluding Syrians and Palestinians from nationality laws. Now of course, Basil is a repugnant figure whose chances of leadership after the passing of his father-in-law are smaller than my chances of being crowned king of US. But since when Human Rights Watch care about condemning racist and exclusivist statements by politicians? Of course, they only did that because Basil happens to be opposed to the March 14 coalition with which Human Rights Watch is attached body-and-soul. The anti-Shi`ite and anti-Alawite statements by Gulf officials and leaders of the Syrian exile opposition (including statements that called for extermination of Shi`ites) never warranted a word of condemnation from Human Rights Watch. Amin Gemayel made statements against the Armenians (after he lost his parliamentary election) and accused them of disloyalty to the homeland. That never warranted statements from HRW. The various anti-Palestinian statements by various right-wing leaders in Lebanon never resulted in condemnation by HRW. And the anti-Syrian refugee statements by Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs never warranted a condemnation. And the sexist statements by Minister of Interior never warranted a condemnation by HRW. But then again: the the last two are part of the March 14 coalition in Lebanon. Did I not tell you once I heard that the secretariat of March 14 wanted to invite HRW to join?