International Activities by Israeli NGOs
September 2014
- On September 29, 2014, an official of Israeli NGO Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) hosted an event in London titled, “After Gaza, what next? The current political situation in Israel,” aimed at exploring the “current political situation in Israel and what activists can do to change it.”
ICAHD Advocacy Officer and political activist Ruth Edmonds spoke about “ways to incease critical pressure, from here in the UK, into an international network” [sic] and “a strategy to best keep up the momentum created by the tsunami of public outrage at Israel’s recent punitive asymmetrical onslaught on every citizen of Gaza.”
ICAHD regularly promotes highly biased rhetoric, accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” “genocide,” “collective punishment,” and “apartheid”; engages in international advocacy campaigns against Israel; promotes BDS (boycotts, divestments and sanctions); and explicitly advocates for the end of the state of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.
Director Jeff Halper has said (2008), “I think it is impossible to have a Jewish state” and that that a bi-national state is the only remaining option resulting from Israel’s “futile attempt to impose an apartheid regime.”
According to its website, donors include European Union, Spain, Trocaire, NGO Development Center, UNDP, World Vision, Mennonite Central Committee (accessed September 29, 2014). Amounts and dates are not provided, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability.
In September 2008, ICAHD announced that its “request for re-funding [was] rejected” by the EU’s Partnership for Peace Program (PfP). ICAHD did receive EU funding via the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) until 2012.
August 2014
- During the 2014 Gaza war, members of Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence published numerous articles in international media platforms – in France, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and U.S. – contributing to the demonization and false allegations regarding the Israeli responses to attacks from Gaza.
These articles all serve as a platform for further demonization and delegitmization of Israel, including accusations that Israeli soldiers engage in immoral policies of “collective punishment,” cause “unreasonable harm to Gazan civilians,” and are “functioning as executioners who have lost respect for human life.”
Articles published by BtS officials include: “Israel’s shelling of Gaza is a vast game of Russian roulette” (Idan Barir, The Telegraph, August 16, 2014), “When I served, the Israeli Military Was the Most Moral in the World. No More.” (Yuli Novak, The Guardian, July 29, 2014), “A former Israeli soldier: Our goal was to spread fear,” (Yuli Novak, Le Monde, August 3, 2014; translated from original French), “We are pushing the moral acceptability longer and longer” (Yuli Novak, Aftenposten, August 3, 2014; translated from original Norwegian), “Year after year, military operation after military operation, we continue to push our moral red lines” (Yuli Novak, De Morgen, August 3, 2014; translated from original Dutch).
Funding for BtS is provided by Spain (via AECID), Denmark (via DanChurch Aid), the European Union, Netherlands (via ICCO), Belgium (via Broederlijk Delen), UK (via Christian Aid), Ireland (via Trocaire), Germany (via Medico International and MISEREOR), Norway, the Open Society Institute, the New Israel Fund, and others.
Click here to for more about Breaking the Silence.
June 2014
- Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence will be touring Dublin from June 19-29 to present a photography exhibit, aimed at portraying “the day-to-day reality of service” in the West Bank.
BtS “collects testimonies” from former Israeli soldiers, who repeat false allegations of “war crimes” and “violations of international law”. These “testimonies,” however, are often anonymous, based on hearsay, and stripped of context, in order to advance the political agenda of BtS activists.
BtS officials regularly embark on international advocacy tours to address European parliamentary groups, Jewish organizations and university campuses in the United States to promote their allegations and fuel the delegtimization campaign against Israel. Founder of BtS, Yehuda Shaul, wrote an op-ed promoting the tour.
The exhibit, which has already traveled throughout Europe and the U.S., will be presented by Trocaire, a development agency of the Catholic Church of Ireland.
In 2012, BtS received NIS 76,022 from Trocaire. BtS also receives funding from the European Union, Spain (via AECID), the Netherlands (via ICCO), Belgium (via Broederlijk Delen), UK (via Christian Aid), Denmark (via DanChurchAid), Germany (via Medico International), Norway, the Open Society Institute and the New Israel Fund.
May 2014
- On May 19, 2014, Israeli NGOs Adalah and the Negev Coexistence for Civil Equality (NCF) hosted a delegation of 10 diplomats from Latin American embassies in Israel on a tour of the Negev.
Adalah and the NCF are two of the most politically active NGOs in opposing Israeli policy regarding the Bedouin in the Negev and have been exploiting the complex issue of Bedouin land claims to demonize and delegitimize Israel in the international arena.
On May 30, 2013 the two NGOs published a one-sided and factually inaccurate position paper (funded by the European Union), reviewing the “Prawer-Begin Bill and the Forced Displacement of the Bedouin” and accusing Israel of “forcible displacement,” “dispossession,” and attempting to implement “the complete and final severance of the Bedouin’s historical ties to their land.”
Funding for Adalah is provided by the European Union, Switzerland, Germany (via EED and Medico International), Spain (via ACSUR), NDC (joint funding of Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands), UN Development Programme (UNDP), New Israel Fund, Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, Oxfam-Novib (the Netherlands), Christian Aid (UK), and Broederlijk Delen (Belgium).
The NCF website does not list donors or financial information, reflecting a lack of funding transparency. However, based on information released by donors, NCF has received funding from the New Israel Fund ($45,532 in 2012), Switzerland (109,279 in 2011 – unspecified currency), and the German political foundation Rosa Luxemberg Stiftung (undisclosed amount).
Click here to read NGO Monitor’s report, “NGOs and the Negev Bedouin Issue in the Context of Political Warfare”.
Click here to for NGO Monitor’s Knesset Presentation on NGO Exploitation of the Bedouin Issue.
June 2014
- Director of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD), Jeff Halper, will be touring the East Coast of the United States, June 15-26.
ICAHD is active in promoting the BDS (boycotts, divestments and sanctions) campaign against Israel and explicitly advocates for the end of the state of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.
Director Jeff Halper has said (2008), “I think it is impossible to have a Jewish state” and that that a bi-national state is the only remaining option resulting from Israel’s “futile attempt to impose an apartheid regime.”
According to its website, “Donors” include European Union, Spain, Trocaire, NGO Development Center (joint funding of Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands), UNDP, World Vision, Mennonite Central Committee (accessed May 25, 2014). However, amounts and dates are not provided.
In September 2008, ICAHD announced that its “request for re-funding [was] rejected” by the EU’s Partnership for Peace Program (PfP). ICAHD did receive EU funding via the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) until 2012.
April 2014
- Representatives of Israeli NGO Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) have embarked on a political advocacy tour around the United States, “discussing the history of activism against the occupation from a gender and feminist lens and the economic interests in the occupation.”
The representatives travelled to New York and Washington, D.C., “where they participated in a special panel discussion on… the Israeli occupation and the international involvement, together with churches representatives from the U.S.”
According to CWP’s website (accessed April 23, 2014), “still to come- more and more exciting meeting[s] with great political partners and organisations” including an event with “Students for Justice in Palestine- Georgetown Uni., discussing land dispossession within Israel, from the Negev/Naqab to Palestinian villages in the North” and an event hosted by Code Pink and Jewish Voice for Peace.
CWP is a leader is campaigns aimed at demonizing Israel, including boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) and sponsoring “Nakba Day” activities that repeat one-sided Palestinian narratives.
CWP’s 2012/13 donors include the European Commission, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, and others.
March 2014
- Israeli NGO B’Tselem is seeking to fill the positions of “European Representative” and “International Relations Associate” to further its international lobbying efforts.
These jobs are expressly geared toward a non-Israeli audience; candidates are expected to “Represent B’Tselem, its research and analysis to European policy makers in Brussels and key European capitals, and to the diplomatic community in Israel”; “Organize briefings and tours for diplomats and policymakers”; “Build and coordinate advocacy campaigns”; “Assist in B’Tselem’s fundraising from individuals and foundations in Europe: meet with donors; write proposals and reports to donors.”
Based on financial information submitted to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits, B’Tselem received NIS 5,541,998 from foreign governmental bodies in 2013.
2013 donors include: The European Commission, EED (Germany), NGO Development Center (joint funding from Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland), Diakonia (Sweden), UNDP, Norwegian Embassy, World Vision, France, Catholic Relief Services and Christian Aid Ireland.
B’Tselem has faced serious criticism for its misrepresentations of international law, inaccurate research, and skewed statistics.
February 2014
- On February 19, 2014, founder and general director of Adalah, attorney Hassan Jabareen, spoke at an event at Columbia University Law School, sponsored by the Center for Palestine Studies at Columbia University, on “how the values of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state are expressed in the law.”
The event followed a lecture given by Suhad Bishara, director of Adalah’s Land and Planning Rights Unit, at New York University on February 18, 2014 on “how the definition of Israel as a Jewish State has shaped the land regime in Israel, and the implications on the land rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel.” Suhad drew “on her experience defending the land and planning rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel before Israeli planning authorities and the Israeli Supreme Court.”
While Adalah describes itself as “an independent human rights organization and legal center” that “promote[s] and defend[s] the rights of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel,” it regularly engages in political warfare, aimed at demonizing and delegitimizing the state of Israel.
Adalah was active in lobbying for the infamous Goldstone Report, played an active role in the 2001 Durban Conference, and assists lawsuits against Israeli officials abroad.
Funding for Adalah is provided by the European Union, Switzerland, Germany (via EED and Medico International), Spain (via ACSUR) NGO Development Center (joint funding of Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands), UN Development Programme (UNDP), Oxfam-Novib (Netherlands), Christian Aid (UK), Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), New Israel Fund, Ford Foundation, and Open Society Institute.
December 2013
- President of Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR), Arik Ascherman, will be traveling in North America in December, “speaking to congregations and groups about Israel, human rights and the work of Rabbis for Human Rights.”
RHR is a highly politicized NGO whose activities related to Bedouin citizens in the Negev reflect a highly distorted and divisive agenda that exploits the universal principles of human rights. RHR produced a film, titled “Fiddler with no Roof,” comparing complex issues related to land claims by Bedouin citizens in the Negev to the expulsion of the Jews during the antisemitic Tsarist regime. In an article published on November 29, 2013 in Maariv and the Times of Israel, Israeli columnist Ben-Dror Yemini termed the film a “blood libel” against Israel.
Funding for RHR’s activities is provided by the European Union, Spain, Germany, Church of Sweden, Norwegian Church, New Israel Fund, NGO Development Center (joint funding of Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands), Trocaire (Ireland) and others.
November 2013
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An official from Coalition of Women for Peace promoted anti-Israel BDS [boycotts, divestments and sanctions] at a conference, organized by the Palestine Marseille Network, in France on November 25, 2013.
Esti Michenmacher promoted the “Who Profits?” campaign, which prides itself on being “a key asset to the global movement of economic activism and BDS” against Israel.
- During a Parents Circle Family Forum (PCFF) program at a Seattle synagogue on October 13, 2013, speaker Bassam Aramin reportedly drew a moral equivalence between the Israeli Shas political party and the Hamas terror organization.
- Yehuda Shaul, co-founder of Breaking the Silence (BtS), is scheduled to speak in California on November 23, 2013 at an event co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Bay Area, New Israel Fund (NIF) and “T’ruah – Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.
- Breaking the Silence (BtS) has continued its international advocacy tour in the United States, speaking at universities, including Harvard and NYU, and is scheduled to appear at additional locations throughout Washington and California during the month of November.
October 2013
- Breaking the Silence participated in an event held by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP). The Palestinian deputy representative to the UN asked the NGO “to do more speaking engagements, particularly in the United States.”
- Director of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD), Jeff Halper, embarked on an “advocacy and fund raising trip” to New Zealand, Australia, and Malaysia, appearing in local media and universities and meeting with anti-Israel activists.
August 2013
- Yehuda Shaul and Yuli Novak, two officials from Breaking the Silence (BtS), were in South Africa the week of August 19, promoting BtS’ highly tendentious book titled Occupation of the Territories – Israeli Soldier testimonies 2000-2010, which claimed to provide a counter to the “official Israeli position” on IDF actions in the territories. NGO Monitor analysis has revealed that this book was rife with methodological problems and appeared to tailor the testimonies to predetermined “analyses” that falsely claimed that Israeli actions are not aimed at self-defense but at “terrorizing the civilian population.”
July 2013
- On July 11, Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and Public Committee Against Torture in Israel joined with Palestinian NGOs in a letter to the chair of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, lobbying the Parliament to “immediately dispatch a parliamentary fact-finding mission” on “the issue of Palestinian political prisoners.”
