Revd Robin Morrison
Church and Society Officer
Church in Wales
9 Cathedral Rd
Cardiff CF11 9XF
Wales
5 December 2004

Dear Reverend Morrison,

Thank you for your letter, which we have considered carefully, and whose core premise we cannot accept. You claim that the critiques of attacks on Israeli policy "also generates a real risk of anti-Semitism worldwide – by giving the impression that Israeli policy cannot be criticised or separated from the nature of being anti-Semitic – a very foolish and dangerous position to take up." Thus, you seem to imply that NGO Monitor’s and Israel’s response to political and physical attacks contributes to global anti-Semitism, which leads to the conclusion that anti-Semitism is the fault of its victims. Anti-Semitism is not produced by Israel and the Jewish people but by those who engage in this disease.

Moreover, your characterization of NGO Monitor is incorrect — this project certainly does not subscribe to the thesis that all criticism of Israel is demonization or anti-Semitism. I assume you will agree that there is a considerable difference between disagreements over Israeli government policies and statements questioning the legitimacy of the state itself and the rights of the Jewish people living there. In keeping with this central distinction, NGO Monitor has documented those instances in which NGOs have gone beyond legitimate criticism, as in case of the 2001 Durban conference which advocated the very destruction of Israel as a Jewish state and witnessed shocking scenes of anti-Semitism. As has been widely shown, these events included the active participation of many NGOs and the acquiescence of others.

Similarly, some NGOs employ language such as ‘apartheid state’ and ‘apartheid wall’, reflecting politically motivated attacks that delegitimize Israel and in the latter case, deny Israelis the right to self-defense from brutal terrorism. NGO Monitor has exposed actions of those organizations whose condemnations of Israel are far harsher than those reserved for the terrorist groups, which in some cases have been completely ignored.

NGO Monitor has also highlighted the inordinate amount of resources devoted by some NGOs to attacking Israel’s democratic society, at the expense of tackling the immorality of totalitarian regimes such as Sudan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, which are responsible for fundamental human rights abuses. Thus, Israel is unfairly singled out and treated as the world’s foremost abuser of human rights, contributing to the Palestinian campaign to declare Israel a pariah state.

NGO Monitor welcomes open debate and dialogue and would be interested to learn where you would place the boundaries between legitimate criticism and anti-Semitism and demonization on the question of Israel. We look forward to your response and advise you that your letter and this response are to be published on the Correspondence section of our website.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Plosker
Managing Editor, NGO Monitor

Letter from Revd Robin Morrison,
Church and Society Officer
Church in Wales
25 November 2004

Dear Monitor,

I have been reading your work for some time. Your thesis seems to be that any criticism of the policies and behaviour of the State of Israel is the same thing as ‘demonising’ Israel. I can’t quite understand why any organisation operating in a democratic country should take this attitude. It seems very similar to the all too common attitude from many Jewish people in Israel and some outside that any criticism of anything is the same as being anti semitic. This is seriously of concern – such a position implies that to be semitic is to be 100% in favour of every Knesset policy. It also generates a real risk of anti Semitism worldwide – by giving the impression that Israeli policy cannot be criticised or separated from the nature of being semitic – a very foolish and dangerous position to take up.

In the larger picture of geo politics and many groups concerns to pray for and work for peace in Israel Palestine I am not sure that either of these two theses is doing any good at all except to prolong and promote meta narratives which undermine attempts to move beyond inappropriate stereotypes.

Yours sincerely

Revd Robin Morrison
Church and Society Officer
Church in Wales
02920 348260
39 Cathedral Rd
Cardiff CF11 9XF
Wales