[Opinion] UN Humanitarian Agency’s Propaganda War on Israel Continues
Professor Gerald M. Steinberg writes about UN-OCHA's propaganda war against Israel.
Publications: | Reports, Books, Academic Publications, Submissions, Resource Pages |
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Other Content Types: | Press Releases, In The Media, Presentations, Posts, , Key Issues |
NGOs: | Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) |
Start date: | 1 Jan 1988 |
End date: | 25 Mar 2019 |
Professor Gerald M. Steinberg writes about UN-OCHA's propaganda war against Israel.
Human Rights Watch’s October 2018 report “Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent: Arbitrary Arrest and Torture Under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas” contains a number of obvious omissions and reflects an absence of serious analysis
As part of UNOCHA's “Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP),” aid appeals are divided into clusters with NGOs serving as implementing partners with UN agencies, and in some cases, responsible for leading the cluster. The cluster system is a key international lobbying and action mechanism through which the PA advances its nationalist and political agenda, sustaining conflict,
From April 29 – May 6, 2018, the Center for Constitutional Rights led a trip to Israel and the West Bank labeled as the “Justice Delegation.” This trip, made up of self-proclaimed social justice advocates, claimed to provide a “better understand[ing of] the human rights situation in Israel and Palestine.” In sharp contrast, participants met exclusively Palestinian and Israeli organizations that promote a one-sided Palestinian narrative of the conflict.
On May 18, 2018, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) held a “special session of the Human Rights Council on the deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.” Many of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that participated in the session condemned Israel for allegedly committing “war crimes” and denied the legitimacy of Israel’s right to self-defense.
Naftali Balanson examines the casualty statistics emerging from Gaza during the riots.
B’Tselem’s report “Minors in Jeopardy,” was funded by UNICEF and echoes the claims of Defense for Children International – Palestine, UNICEF, Military Court Watch, and its own 2012 and 2015 reports on the subject. This practice of “copying and pasting” and the financial support provided by UNICEF demonstrate the close coordination between Palestinian, Israeli, and international non-governmental organizations in a concerted effort to falsely accuse the IDF of systematically violating the rights of Palestinian minors in order to impose sanctions against Israel.
On January 12, 2017, the European Union Representative and the EU Heads of Mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah issued a “statement on the situation regarding Palestinian children arrested, detained and prosecuted by Israeli authorities.” The statement unsubtly implies misconduct and ill-treatment by Israeli authorities – echoing a well-coordinated NGO campaign that accuses Israel of “grave violations” against children in order to advocate for Israel’s isolation – while providing no verifiable evidence.
UNICEF spearheads a campaign to have Israel included on a UN blacklist of “grave” vio-lators of children’s rights. This political agenda is a primary facet of UNICEF’s activities relating to Israel, completely inconsistent with its mandate of “child protection” and from its guidelines for neutrality and impartiality.
On October 16, 2017, the Council of the European Union adopted the EU Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World in 2016. The report makes several misleading, inconsistent, and grossly inaccurate claims, as well as disregards a number of EU norms and official stances. The publication fails to provide references or any verifiable sources, violating basic rules of evidence. The degree to which these sections copy from and rely on problematic reports by advocacy NGOs highlights the broader issue of EU outsourcing of responsibility for analysis and policy-making without oversight.