Activity

• According to its website, “The Norwegian Refugee Council is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee.”
• Operates in 31 countries, with Head Office in Oslo. NRC has been active in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza since 2009 and has offices in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Hebron, and Gaza.
• In Israel, NRC is registered with an “International Humanitarian Visa” authorized by the Ministry of Social Services.

Funding

• In 2021, budget for Israel, West Bank, and Gaza projects was $11.9 million.
• According to NRC’s 2021 annual report, governments provided NOK 120.9 million to programs in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza (see further funding information below).
• Donors include the European Union, United Kingdom, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Spain, France, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, and Luxembourg.
  • According to UN-OCHA, NRC received $80.4 million in 2020-2022 from governments for projects in the region.

Political Advocacy in Courts

• Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) leads massive and unprecedented political campaigns exploiting the Israeli legal system. In sharp contrast to NRC’s ostensibly humanitarian agenda, this massive program focuses on some of the most complex and sensitive political issues in the Arab-Israeli context. (Read NGO Monitor’s report “Flooding the Courts: The Norwegian Refugee Council’s European-Funded Proxy War.”)
• One of NRC’s principle projects in Israel, “Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA),” exploits judicial frameworks to manipulate Israeli policy, bypassing democratic frameworks. NRC’s legal projects are funded mainly by Norway, the European Union (EU), and the United Kingdom (UK).
  • Included in ICLA’s program goals is “supporting the PA both locally and nationally on casework.”
  • In a 2018 funding appeal, the NRC noted that its “ICLA programme and the PA are jointly the largest provider of legal aid services within Area C. There exists a referral mechanism that enables ICLA and partners to receive referrals from the PA, notably cases involving demolition and eviction orders…”
• Through its Palestinian and Israeli partner NGOs and private lawyers, the ICLA program submits between 500-800 new cases to Israeli courts per year. 
  • According to a 2019 NRC document, “targets under the project will be … 3,875 opened and continuing cases for legal assistance in the West Bank (West Bank 534 new and 3,341 continuing).”
• A lawyer affiliated with the NRC program stated that the objective of these cases are an attempt to “try every possible legal measure to disrupt the Israeli judicial system… as many cases as possible are registered and that as many cases as possible are appealed to increase the workload of the courts and the Supreme Court to such an extent that there will be a blockage.” (emphasis added)
• In addition to ICLA, NRC’s “legal assistance” and “policy change advocacy” are also part of a joint mechanism known as the “West Bank Protection Consortium.” The Consortium argues that “bringing together international agencies from different countries provides the potential to leverage more diverse political and financial support [collaborate] between the INGOs … creates an opportunity to mobilize broader and coordinated political support from diplomats in country and in the capitals of respective INGOs….” Many ICLA cases are “partially funded through the Consortium.”
  • Through the Consortium, NRC works with partner NGOs to “transform policies and practices” and to “ensure effective and timely political interventions by the UN and Third States.” These partners include ACTED, Première Urgence Internationale (PUI) Gruppo di Volontariato Civile (GVC), and Action Against Hunger.
• NRC also leads the “Legal Task Force,” a mechanism of the UN, which coordinates legal responses by 14 Palestinian, Israeli, and international NGOs. An NRC funding appeal notes the close relationship between the UN humanitarian aid framework, the PA, and NRC, explaining that “Legal aid interventions will be coordinated with the PA thru the Legal Task Force” (emphasis added).

Ties to Terrorism

• In May 2018, NRC participated in a legal workshop held by the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) about the “Israeli occupation’s policies for thirty-five farmers from the Middle and South Valley areas.” The workshop was funded by the German foreign office through IFA, and with the cooperation of Medico International.
  • UAWC is identified by Fatah as an official “affiliate” and by USAID-engaged audit as the “agricultural arm” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. (For more information on UAWC’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Union of Agricultural Work Committees Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”)
  • Samer Arbid, UAWC’s accountant from 2016 until his arrest in 2019, was indicted on 21 counts in Israeli military court. According to Israeli security officials, commanded a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror cell that carried out a bombing against Israeli civilians, murdering 17-year old Rina Shnerb, and injuring her father and brother. According to the Israel Security Agency (Shabak), Arbid prepared and detonated the explosive device.
  • Abdul Razeq Farraj, UAWC Finance and Administration Director, was arrested on October 23, 2019 and indicted on 4 counts in Israeli military court. His alleged crimes include holding a position in an illegal and aiding an attempt to cause death in connection to the August 2019 bombing. Farraj spent six years, from 1985-1991, in “an Israeli prison after being convicted of affiliation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”
  • In 2017, UAWC’s legal advisors “adopt[ed] 100 farmers’ cases through filing lawsuits in Israeli courts and following up with them, and referring some legal cases to legal and human rights institutions such as JLAC, St. Yves, and NRC.”
• In April 2018, NRC contractor Yasser Murtaja was killed in the violence on the Gaza border. According to news reports, Murtaja was revealed to be a Hamas activist. An April 9 NRC statement notes, “Yasser Murtaja…had agreed to document for NRC the bitter prolonged struggle faced by Palestinian refugees in Gaza. The work was planned to start the day after he was killed.”
• NRC leads the UN-OCHA “Shelter Cluster,” which includes Ma’an Development Center and Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees. The cluster system is a key international lobbying and action mechanism through which the PA advances its nationalist and political agenda and sustains conflict.
  • In May 2018, the Palestinian NGO Ma’an Development Center’s employee Ahmad Abdallah Aladini was killed in the violence on the Gaza border. According to the PFLP, Aladini was a “comrade” who was active against the “Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip.”
    • In May 2019, Ma’an Director General, Sami Khader attended a memorial event organized by the PFLP that centered on PFLP political bureau member Rabah Muhanna, who, according to information posted by the PFLP, “contributed to the establishment” of several PFLP-affiliated NGOs, including UHWC, UAWC, and Addameer. The hall was decorated with PFLP paraphernalia.
      • At least four current and former NGO officials who attended the event were subsequently indicted on charges of being members of a PFLP terror cell. Some are currently standing trial for their direct involvement in the August 2019 murder of a 17-year-old Israeli girl.
  • Judeh Deeb Ibrahim Jamal, founder of PARC and the General Director of Qatar Charity, was convicted in 2015 for his activity in the Qatar Charity – an illegal organization in Israel due to its ties to Hamas – and for his transferring of funds to the Hamas (on file).
• As part of the UN-OCHA Protection Cluster, NRC co-chairs the Legal Taskforce in both the West Bank and Gaza with the Society of St. Yves. (See more on the Protection Cluster below.)
  • According to Arabic language media, in 2011, Raed Halabi, Society of St. Yves’ “head of the advocacy department,” was convicted and sentenced to 26-months in prison for “organizational activity in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine” (PFLP) – a designated terrorist organization in the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. Electronic Intifada reported that in 2004, Halabi was sentenced to two-years in prison.  In May 2017, Society of St. Yves reported that “the Israeli authorities arrested St. Yves’ advocacy and field officer, Mr. Raed Halabi.”

Anti-Israel Activities

• In May 2021, in the context of the 2021 Gaza conflict, NRC published a press release calling on Israel to “stop this madness: children must be protected. Their homes must not be targets. Schools must not be targets. Spare these children and their families. Stop bombing them now.” NRC ignored that a central aspect of Hamas’ and Islamic Jihad’s strategy is to shield their military operations and terror infrastructure within civilian areas. This includes: firing rockets from within population centers, constructing a vast network of tunnels under these same areas, and hiding munitions in homes and (what would otherwise be) civilian buildings.
• In November 2020, NRC published “Raided and Razed: Attacks on West Bank Education,” alleging “296 attacks against education by Israeli forces or settlers and settlement private security guards” in January 2008 – June 2020. “Attacks on education” is not a legal term; it was invented by NGOs to broaden the UN definition of “attacks on schools and hospitals” and is used in the context of Palestinians with the cynical objective of including Israel on the Secretary-General’s on the list of the world’s worst violators of children’s rights. NRC lists a litany of non-violent incidents under this heading, most related only tangentially at best to schooling and education.(For more information, see NGO Monitor’s analysis, “Norwegian Refugee Council Report on Children – Political Attacks Funded by the EU.”)
• In April 2018, NRC released a statement calling “the deadly force used by the Israeli military against the people of Gaza” during the violence on the Gaza border a “gross violation of their protections under humanitarian and human rights law.” The statement ignored the violent nature of the protests, which included Molotov cocktails, arson, and attempts to breach the border fence with Israel.
• In June 2017, NRC held an event in Geneva titled “The Disintegration of Occupation: Rule of Law in Protracted Belligerent Occupation” featuring Professor Michael Lynk, UN Special Rapporteur “on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967.” At the event, Lynk ignored the context of violence and terrorism under which Israel implements security measures and completely fabricated the number of checkpoints that exist, claiming that there are approximately “200-300 checkpoints. Every time a Palestinian tries to leave Area A or B [of the West Bank] to leave they are going through multiple checkpoints.”
• In July 2015, NRC uploaded a video, “End the Nightmares,” promoting Association of International Development Agencies’s (AIDA) #OpenGaza campaign. The propaganda film depicts unprovoked Israeli soldiers attacking smiling Palestinian protesters, including women and children, with gas grenades, rubber bullets, and live ammunition.
• In statements during the 2014 Gaza conflict, NRC declared that “Israel’s military offensive” has resulted in “forced displacement,” “restricting the movement of civilians and the ability of humanitarian actors to carry out even the most basic life-saving activities.” The publications present Israel as the aggressor, omitting the hundreds of indiscriminate Hamas missile and tunnel attacks targeting Israeli population centers.

NRC Funding to Political NGOs

• NRC’s “Implementing Partners” include: Jerusalem Legal Aid Centre (JLAC), Society of St Yves, HaMoked, Yesh Din, Bimkom, Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR), Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), and Al-Mezan.
• Due to a lack of transparency, there is limited information regarding amounts disbursed to NRC’s implementing partners. Details on Israeli NGOs are available based on quarterly financial documents submitted by the recipients to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits. Details on Palestinian NGOs are based on independent research.
• Al-Mezan– (amount unknown)
  • Highly active in anti-Israel lawfare campaigns, exploiting courts and international legal bodies to seek arrest warrants against Israeli government officials; files lawsuits against companies and governments doing business with Israel, and lobbies for cases against Israelis at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
  • A number of Al-Mezan officials and employees are members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas, terrorist organizations designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.  For more information on Al-Mezan’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Al Mezan Center For Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
• Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (amount unknown)
  • PCHR is a leader in anti-Israel lawfare campaigns, minimizes or ignores Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians, and presents a distorted version of the conflict based only on the Palestinian narrative.
  • According to a 1995 article in the Washington Report, Raji Sourani served “a three-year sentence [1979-1982] imposed by an Israeli court which convicted him of membership in the illegal Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine…” He was also denied a US entry visa in 2012. For more information on PCHR’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
    • In February 2014, the PFLP organized a ceremony in Gaza honoring Sourani for winning the “Alternative Noble (sic) Prize.”
  • PCHR has submitted various documents to the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• HaMoked– (NIS 2,649,789, 2020-2022).
  • According to Hamoked, the NGO took part in 972 legal activities in 2020. In several cases, Hamoked petitioned the Israeli High Court in the name of family members of terrorists “Against the confiscation and demolition orders issued to the homes of Palestinians who are accused or suspected of committing murderous attacks.” For example, Hamoked represented the families of terrorists responsible for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli boys, the Har Nof  massacre (together with the PFLP affiliated NGO Addameer), the Henkin family murder, and the murders of Dani Gonen and Malachi Rozenfeld.
  • Funding for Hamoked also highlights overlap of personnel between the NRC and its grantees: Alon Margalit worked as a Legal Research Coordinator for the NRC in Jerusalem, and was an editor and additional researcher in the NRC’s report “The Bedouin Rights Under Occupation” (November 2015); in the past, he worked as a lawyer for Hamoked. Yotam Ben Hillel worked for six years at Hamoked, and then moved to NRC; he was also an editor and additional researcher for the NRC report “Restrictions on Residency Rights and Family Reunification in Occupied Palestine” (December 2015).
• Bimkom– (NIS 406,758; 2020-2021). 
  • Bimkom regularly criticizes Israeli planning policies and obstacles created by the security barrier, while completely omitting the context of terror.
  • In May 2020, in an interview with Haaretz, Bimkom co-founder Haim Yakobi referred to Israel as an “apartheid state” and a “colonial project.”
• Yesh Din– (NIS 2,146,614; 2020-2022).
  • Yesh Din regularly petitions the Israeli High Court of Justice and engages in advocacy, including briefings to foreign diplomats, to alter what it labels as “discriminatory” policies.
  • The activities of Yesh Din are central to promoting the claim that investigative systems and courts in Israel are unable or unwilling to investigate allegations of wrongdoing. This campaign is part of a broader “legal warfare” strategy, of pushing “war crimes” cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC), and using poor information and convoluted statistics to advance political claims.
• Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC) – ($390,675 in 2019)
  • JLAC is highly active in promoting BDS campaigns, lobbies international bodies, and utilizes highly inflammatory rhetoric, including accusations of “collective punishment,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “apartheid,” as well as supporting a Palestinian “right of return.”
  • In 2015, the Palestinian Bar Association, in cooperation with the NRC, had training course for lawyers on housing, land and property issues in Area C and East Jerusalem The training was implemented through lawyers from NRC and JLAC.
• Society of St Yves – (amount unknown)
  • Accuses Israel of “discriminatory policies” and “breach[ing] international law,” and claims that “[Palestinian] land [is] swallowed up by the Israeli armed forces.”
  • Founder Michel Sabbah authored (together with Naim Ateek of Sabeel and Atallah Hanna) the 2009 Kairos Palestine document, which calls to mobilize churches worldwide in the call for BDS, compares Israel with the South African apartheid regime, and denies the Jewish historical connection to Israel in theological terms.
  • According to Arabic language media, in 2011, Raed Halabi, Society of St. Yves’ “head of the advocacy department,” was convicted and sentenced to 26-months in prison for “organizational activity in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine” (PFLP) – a designated terrorist organization in the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. Electronic Intifada reported that in 2004, Halabi was sentenced to two-years in prison.  In May 2017, Society of St. Yves reported that “the Israeli authorities arrested St. Yves’ advocacy and field officer, Mr. Raed Halabi.”