On February 22 and 23, 2007, the UN Committee (CERD) charged with monitoring the International Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination held its periodic review session on Israel.  Many politicized NGOs operating in the Arab-Israeli conflict submitted statements to CERD, including Adalah, ICAHD, BADIL, Ittijah, Al Mezan, Al Haq, and Amnesty International.    

For the first time, however, NGO Monitor also submitted a statement to the Committee (read it here), which was accepted as evidence and is available on the Committee’s website.  NGO Monitor’s report details the problems associated with reliance on politicized NGOs which claim to promote universal human rights, but instead, advance biased political agendas based on a highly distorted narrative.  The submission also analyzes many of the NGO statements to CERD, highlighting their lack of credibility. Instead of promoting racial equality and non-discrimination, these statements merely heighten the conflict by utilizing inflammatory rhetoric which demonizes Israel; stripping away the context of mass terror; and promoting false historical claims.

The following are highlights from NGO Monitor’s report:

  • Adalah, in its submission, claims without evidence that “national/military service in Israel …constitutes the Jewish Zionist identity, as distinct from the Arab minority’s identity.” Adalah omits that the Druze communities of Israel, as well as many Bedouins and members of other Arab groups participate in national/military service.  Adalah's highly ideological statement ignores government recommendations that increased participation by the Arab sector in national service would take place in projects within the local Arab communities.  Instead, the report groundlessly claims that national service would force Israeli Arabs "to submit to a rationale that further grounds discrimination and oppression."
  • Another submission prepared jointly by a number of NGOs, including Al Haq, BADIL, ICAHD, Mossawa, and Al Mezan, characterizes Palestinians as “indigenous” while branding Jews as “colonizers” and claims that Israel engaged in "forced expulsions" of the indigenous population.  This joint NGO submission also includes a pseudo-academic article that compares the State of Israel to Nazi Germany.
  • Many of the NGO statements provide claims or statistics which are unverifiable or without sources.  For instance, ICAHD (funded by the EU’s Partnership for Peace program, whilst engaging in anti-Israel propaganda), provides statistics regarding house demolitions without citing to a source.  ICAHD’s submission also quotes from an alleged report attributed to the "Municipal Comptroller" but doesn’t provide identifying information for the report to allow for independent verification.

Click here to read NGO Monitor’s submission to CERD.