Euro Government Funding Enables Al-Haq Lawfare Against UK Ministers

Release Date:  24 February 2009
 
Euro Government Funding Enables Al-Haq ‘Lawfare’ Against UK Ministers
 
(Jerusalem) – The Jerusalem-based research organization NGO Monitor today condemned the attempt by radical Palestinian NGO Al-Haq to initiate legal proceedings against UK Secretaries of State David Milliband, John Hutton and Peter Mandelson.  Al-Haq, which receives funding from several European governments, claims that UK links to Israel constitute a violation of international law.  This represents an immoral abuse of universal jurisdiction, an attempt to justify Israel boycotts through pseudo-legal rhetoric and a reprehensible attempt to erase Israel’s right to self-defence.
 
Al-Haq is a radical group with a long record of anti-Israel activity. Among its funders are the governments of Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and Norway and the major UK charity Christian Aid.  Al-Haq’s General Director Shawan Jabarin has been denied exit visas by Israel and Jordan on account of his alleged ties to the terrorist group Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).  On July 7, 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld the visa denial because it examined reliable evidence that Jabarin is “among the senior activists of the Popular Front terrorist organization.”
 
This case is merely the latest stage in an anti-Israel NGO campaign over recent years, known as ‘Lawfare’.  Under the façade of obtaining justice, NGOs utilize universal jurisdiction to promote and justify the isolation and boycotts of Israel and its leaders.  Al-Haq previously brought a case in the UK courts in 2006 against the UK government to end export licenses to Israel.  This was dismissed by the UK Court of Appeal on November 25, 2008.  Meanwhile, the cases against Doron Almog and Shaul Mofaz in the UK courts were brought with the assistance of another NGO Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) and against Avi Dichter in USA by PCHR and Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).  Not one of the cases brought by NGOs has previously been upheld in the courts, indicating that they are motivated more by a desire for publicity than a sense of justice.   
 
Al-Haq’s latest legal foray is a blatant and discriminatory attempt to impose an arms boycott on Israel in order to eliminate Israel’s ability to defend itself against terror groups such as Hamas. The alleged ties of Al-Haq’s leader to the PFLP and its failure to speak out against Hamas’ genocidal campaign against Jews and Israeli civilians belies the organization’s claim to be a ‘human rights’ NGO.     
 
NGO Monitor’s Executive Director, Prof Gerald Steinberg said, “Al-Haq, like other NGOs is using the cloak of the courts to mask its political agenda. Given that not one court has upheld their complaints, it is clear that Al-Haq and other NGOs continue to manipulate judicial systems, not out of concern for human rights, but as part of the campaign to demonize and isolate Israel.  The European governments that support their activities must understand that far from promoting peace and coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, by funding these NGOs, they are in fact helping perpetuate the conflict.”                  
 
    
 

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Editors Notes:

Please click here or the link below to view NGO Monitor’s in-depth ‘Lawfare’ study

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/data/images/File/lawfare-monograph.pdf

A Wall St Journal op-ed on the dangers of ‘Lawfare’ can be viewed here

NGO Monitor was founded to promote transparency, critical analysis and debate on the political role of human rights organizations.  For more information, see our website at

http://www.ngo-monitor.org 

Other recent publications and reports by NGO Monitor include:-

The NGO Front in the Gaza War – Amnesty International – January 25, 2009 

‘Hijacked by Hatred’: British NGOs Use Christmas for Anti-Israel Attacks – December 23, 2008

NGOs and Durban Demonization at UN Review of Israel – December 3, 2008

NGO Monitor’s Executive Director is, Prof. Gerald Steinberg.

Members of NGO Monitor’s International Advisory Board include Elie Wiesel, Prof Alan Dershowitz, Sir Martin Gilbert and R. James Woolsey
 

For further information, comment or interviews contact Dan Kosky

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