In October 2009, HRW founder Robert Bernstein published an article in the New York Times, strongly criticizing the organization for ignoring severe human rights violations in closed societies, for its anti-Israel bias, and for "issuing reports...that are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state." In a lecture at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (November 2010), Bernstein expanded on these ideas and noted that "Human Rights Watch’s attacks on almost every issue [have] become more and more hostile [toward Israel]."