Despite Christian Aids commitment to non-partisanship, its recent film claiming to depict the roots of Palestinian poverty is the latest in a series of highly ideological public statements that attack Israel. The film presents a highly inaccurate and slanted narrative that undermines the impact of the humanitarian projects Christian Aid funds for the Palestinian population.
The Ford Foundation has announced a $20 million peace and social justice fund in partnership with the New Israel Fund. Both organizations are already major players in the Middle East. NIF has awarded more than $120 million to 700 Israeli Jewish and Arab groups and Ford donates some $13m annually. Both have come under heavy criticism for funding highly political NGOs whose anti-Israeli agendas contradict their mission statements.
Although Betselem has an openly political agenda and is technically outside NGO Monitors mission statement, this analysis is important in illustrating the degree to which the information chain of NGOs is prone to exploitation for political aims, and in noting the lack of accountability in government funding of political NGOs, particularly in the case of the EU.
The New Israel Fund is particularly active funding certain NGOs in the Arab Sector in Israel. The activities of these NIF-supported NGOs, however, have gone far beyond the scope of their mission statements. A professional and independent review of the counter-productive agendas supported by NIF would redress this basic failure and restore credibility to the organization.
Human Rights Watchs statement calling on the U.S. government to penalize Israel for constructing the separation barrier is the latest in a series of highly unbalanced, incomplete and politically motivated attacks on Israeli policy in the name of human rights. Most of HRWs statement is again based on claims made by Palestinian political organizations with only token reference to the legitimate security concerns and impact of terror on this Israeli policy.
Summary: A survey of the major human rights NGOs shows the majority have ignored the latest wave of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. Amnesty was an exception and issued a short condemnation of the first bombing. However, this was swiftly followed by a much larger and grossly unbalanced attack on Israel and total silence on two subsequent large-scale bombings.
Summary: The EU promises to fund human rights and democracy projects as a means of ensuring international stability. Particularly generous resources have been allocated to humanitarian NGOs operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. NGO Monitors analysis, however, provides evidence that a large proportion of these funds have been allocated to pursue a narrow anti-Israel ideological agenda designed to delegitimize Israel.
Summary: For many, the International Solidarity Movements blatant support for Palestinian incitement and rejectionism is the antithesis of a human-rights organization. Charges of harboring terrorists, endangering the lives of foreign peace volunteers, and sabotaging sensitive military operations have prompted the Israeli government to limit the activities of members of this organization. The Israeli Chief of Staff even singled out ISM as a direct threat to his soldiers lives.
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