Before joining Human Rights Watch in 1996 , Stork co-founded the Middle East Research & Information Project ( MERIP ) in 1971 and was chief editor of its flagship publication , the '' Middle East Report '' , until 1995 . Stork served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkey . " He presently serves as chair of the Middle East Studies Association 's Committee on Academic Freedom and sits on the advisory committees of the American Friends Service Committee , Foreign Policy in Focus and the Iraq Revenue Watch project of the Open Society Institute . " Stork 's involvement with MERIP and anti-Israel activism before joining HRW have made him the object of criticism . '' Maariv '' reported that Stork was a " radical leftist " in the 1970s . According to '' Maariv '' 's report , Stork wrote an article praising the Munich massacre and attended an anti-Zionist conference hosted by Saddam Hussein in 1976 . Kenneth Roth , executive director of HRW , has defended Stork by saying that these events took place thirty years ago , and he later became a staunch critic of Hussein
Munich massacre
Munich massacre
Joe Stork