Whitson was a student at Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School for 12 years in Los Angeles and spent childhood summers with family in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

Whitson denounced the government's crackdowns: "Iraq is quickly slipping back into authoritarianism as its security force abuse protesters, harass journalists and torture detainees.

"[28] In a May 2013 op-ed for The New York Times, Whitson criticized the Iraqi regime, arguing that "Maliki needs a new playbook – one with lessons on leadership and reform that will bring the country together on the basis of protecting every citizen's freedom, not tear it further apart.

Human Rights Watch stated that these executions are "an extremely grave offense—in fact, a war crime" and urged both Fatah and Hamas to be responsible for civilians in their custody.

"[34] Whitson has persistently urged Obama to "tackle" prevalent human rights violations by leaders in both the Palestinian Territories and Israel, emphasizing that these problems "should not await a comprehensive settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"[35] Whitson characterised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assertions that protests at Columbia University and elsewhere were driven by antisemitism as "cheap & disingenuous [...] smears".

Martin Peretz of the New Republic has called her "a mendacious lady" who has "led a jaundiced crusade against Israel with the kind of laughable indiscretion that in better days would have put her on the margins of public debate."

"[44] In another 2009 article, Bernstein suggested that if HRW wished to restore its credibility, it needed to fire certain staffers, Whitson among them, and replace them with "some sincere human rights advocates without anti-Israel ideological priors."

[46] In an April 2010 interview, Whitson said that "the most glaring violations of the laws of war continues to be Israel's 43 year occupation of the Palestinian territories," but also claimed that it was "very important" for HRW "not to take a position on who's right or who's wrong" in order to maintain its credibility as "non-partisan in any conflict.

"[47] Ben Birnbaum, a journalist who profiled Whitson for the New Republic in 2010, noted that her office is decorated by "a poster for Paradise Now, a movie that attempts to humanize Palestinian suicide bombers," and "two photos of bereaved Gazans."

She has expressed "tremendous respect and admiration" for Norman Finkelstein, and while lamenting that "his anger sometimes gets the better of him and his brilliant mind and generous spirit," she has excused it by saying that "making Israeli abuses the focus of one's life work is a thankless but courageous task that may well end up leaving all of us quite bitter.

"The organization presents no proof whatsoever that the targets involved were not being used for military operations or that the 'journalists' were not Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters," said Anne Herzberg of NGO Monitor, adding: "Just because HRW claims something is a war crime does not make it so.

"[49] Whitson, in a separate statement on the same matter, said that "journalists who praise Hamas and TV stations that applaud attacks on Israel may be propagandists, but that does not make them legitimate targets under the laws of war.

"[50] Benjamin Weinthal, from the Jerusalem Post has criticized Whitson for praising "anti-Israel activist Norman Finkelstein, who equates Israel with Nazi Germany.

Whitson condemned the charges and noted that Jordan's calls for democratic reforms ring "hollow while prosecutors hunt down public figures simply for criticizing the government's foreign policy.

"[64] In the election year of 2009, Whitson criticized Lebanon's parties and candidates running for parliament for generally ignoring human rights issues, such torture in detention, discrimination against women and Palestinian refugees.

[65] They civil war in Syria was well underway in 2012 when Whitson wrote a letter to Lebanon's Prime Minister and other officials, asking them to reassess the deportation of at-risk Syrians.

"[66] Libya is "teetering on the brink of failure," said Whitson to MSNBC in 2014, as the country has been "unable to disarm dozens of armed groups" that terrorize, kidnap, and commit murder.

[67] Shortly after the Arab Spring, Whitson, criticized Libya's transitional government for "mimicking Qaddafi laws criminalizing political dissent and granting blanket immunity to any crimes committed in "support" of the revolution" in a Foreign Policy op-ed.

Whitson described the younger Gaddafi as having been a "semi-sanctioned internal voice for reform" whose foundation "had pushed publicly for changing the country's laws and freeing political prisoners" and "helped establish two private newspapers that sometimes criticized government policies."

"[72] Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic harshly criticized Whitson's Los Angeles Times op-ed, suggesting that perhaps she "should work for Vogue," a reference to that magazine's recent publication of a flattering profile of the Syrian First Lady.

"[74] Apropos of Whitson's Los Angeles Times oped, Benjamin Weinthal wrote in the Jerusalem Post that she had "backtracked...regarding her longstanding praise of al-Islam.

Calling HRW "a financially flush but morally bankrupt organization," Steinberg charged that its "behavior with regard to the Middle East demonstrates a determined effort to avert its eyes from the worst human rights abuses while focusing on post-colonial ideologues' favorite whipping boy, Israel—the only democracy in the region.

[85] Human Rights Watch condemned Saudi Arabian authorities for their conviction of al-Huwaider and al-Oyouni and criticized the government for its gender-biased laws and its failure to protect women like Natalie Morin.

"[97] Whitson characterized David Bernstein's criticism of her Saudi Arabia fundraiser as "fundamentally...racist," saying that donors' "ethnic background...is irrelevant....Should people be criticising us for the fact that much of our support base is made up of Jews?

He also criticized the fact that Whitson "as the representative of an allegedly non-partisan human rights group...hires Palestinian political activists with a long record of hostility to Israel as her 'neutral' researchers."

[99] Law professor Abraham Bell criticized Whitson in a March 2012 article for emphasizing HRW's clashes with "pro-Israel pressure groups in the US, the European Union, and the United Nations" when courting potential donors in Saudi Arabia.

Whitson condemned Ben Ali and stated that he is on "a vengeful campaign to punish the few journalists and human rights activists who dared to question his record during the election.

[114] In late 2012, Whitson wrote an op-ed in the Huffington Post in which she criticized the UAE government and referred to it as a country "where people who attempt to exercise their rights to free speech and peaceful dissent are likely to find themselves in arbitrary detention.

[119] In an interview with Democracy Now, Whitson also emphasized the importance of protestors' right to demonstrate against the Yemeni government and further criticized the use of tasers, knives, and rifles as a tool to silence anti-government protests.