NGO Monitor in the Media
17 January 2006

FrontPageMagazine.Com ran an interview with Gerald Steinberg (“Keeping an Eye on the Haters”) on January 5, 2006.
Prof. Steinberg explained how human rights organizations are often run by low-level political figures “who exploit the huge budgets provided to non-governmental organizations (particularly from Europe), they have access to PR and influence, without the burden of accountability.” He also cited glaring examples of NGOs exploiting human rights issues to demonize Israel, as Amnesty International did in its report on domestic violence in the Palestinian territories.

Prof. Steinberg also appeared as a guest on the BBC’s call-in talk show, Have Your Say, on the topic of Israel’s future in the post-Sharon era. Responding to callers accusing Sharon of various crimes against Palestinians, particularly in Lebanon, Dr. Steinberg clarified that Lebanese Christians, not Israelis, carried out massacres against Palestinian refugees in Sabra and Shattila, and that Sharon learned his lessons from the Israel’s failures in Beirut. He also noted that the Palestinians have yet to accept Israel’s existence in the region. “Israeli society, especially under Ariel Sharon, has moved a long way from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. But the Palestinians are still stuck in 1947, and that means rejectionism,” he said.

NGO Monitor’s reports on Al Mezan Center for Human Rights appeared this month on the media-review weblog Mediacrity. In a post about British activist Kate Burton’s kidnapping by Palestinian terrorists (“Moonbat Gets a Taste of Terrorism”), the author points out that international volunteers come to Gaza to protect Palestinians but unwittingly end up serving the radical agendas promoted by “human rights” groups such as Al Mezan. The author argues that the mainstream media’s silence about the real intentions of many groups claiming to pursue human rights agendas contributes to the phenomenon, and backs his claims with quotes from NGO Monitor’s reports.

NGO Monitor’s recent reports on radical cleric Naim Ateek and Sabeel, the NGO he directs, also stimulated a response in a letter written by the chairman of Friends of Sabeel North America. Published on the website of Miftah, the letter addresses on-line critics of Sabeel as “pro-Israel apologists” – in an apparent refererence to NGO Monitor – who “willfully distort and twist the message of Sabeel.” The author defends Sabeel’s efforts to isolate and delegitimize Israel through divestment campaigns and denies that Sabeel’s use of crucifixion imagery contains antisemitic overtones. He also follows Sabeel’s practice of ignoring any Palestinian responsibility in the conflict with Israel, placing all of the blame for “Palestinian suffering” on Israel’s presence in the West Bank.