14 July 2005:
Christian Aid Watch: Under the Blogger’s Spotlight

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Christian Aid's anti-Israel political agenda has been documented by NGO Monitor. The evidence is reflected in the number of reports, campaigns, press releases and expensive advertisements demonstrating consistently pro-Palestinian political positions in contradiction to the organization's "charitable" aims.

Christian Aid's Christmas 2004 "Child of Bethlehem" campaign caused a great deal of anger from members of both the Jewish and Christian communities in Britain and elsewhere (read the correspondence).

As Christian Aid's agenda has moved further away from charitable and humanitarian issues, the organization has had to contend with increasing demands for accountability. These demands led Christian Aid Director Daleep Mukarji to defend his organization in correspondence with NGO Monitor and the pages of the Jewish Chronicle.

Some of Christian Aid's own supporters have now begun to ask questions of the organization, and "Christian Aid Watch" is a web blog created "to challenge the UK development charity Christian Aid over what, in my view, is its biased campaigning on the issue of Israel and Palestine." (see christianaidwatch.blogspot.com)

The blogger, recognizing the consistent pattern that Christian Aid has displayed, states his belief that "Christian Aid does a lot of good work, and indeed it was through receiving and reading the magazine Christian Aid News as a supporter of the charity that I began to be concerned - a concern which has developed over the past three years or so into a conviction that this is not a side issue, nor one which is going to go away."

As noted, "Over the last seven issues of Christian Aid News more than 17 pages were devoted to Israel and Palestine. Most of this coverage involved political criticism of Israel. The most coverage any other conflict zone got was 4.5 pages for Angola - barely a quarter as much. Sudan, scene of more than two million deaths in the civil wars of the past two decades and, in the UN's words, "the worst humanitarian crisis in the world", got 2.5 pages." The author offers critiques of Christian Aid's literature including criticism of the "Child of Bethlehem" campaign, stating "What a Pandora's box of associations with the dark corners of Christian history we open up when we make this conjunction of Jewish violence and a Christian child victim!" .

The author, an Anglican Christian also expresses his concern at the passing of the Anglican Consultative Council's divestment resolution, which is seen within the context of the wider divestment campaign that has received encouragement from a number of Church organizations and Christian groups such as Christian Aid.

While the "Christian Aid Watch" site reflects the views of an individual and those who post responses, it is also indicative of potential misgivings amongst Christian Aid's own supporters who have chosen to express their doubts and criticisms of the organization's one-sided approach towards Israel.