Activity

• The Swiss government funds numerous Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) through the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA/EDA), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC/DEZA), and representative offices in Tel Aviv and Ramallah. Switzerland indirectly funds NGOs through multiple UN frameworks and aid organizations such as the Norwegian Refugee Council, Diakonia, and the Swiss church group HEKS.
• In 2021-2024, the Swiss government is expected to grant CHF 32 million in direct and indirect funding to NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Some of these groups promote antisemitic rhetoric and have alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – a designated terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.
• In June 2021, Switzerland endorsed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
• In January, 2020, the Swiss government published an evaluation of funding to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza titled “Cooperation with non-governmental organizations in partner countries of international cooperation”:
  • NGO Monitor’s review of this report shows that the evaluation fails to effectively and impartially analyze the distribution of Swiss funds. Instead, the evaluation relies on the self-reporting and opinions of Swiss government grantees.
  • The evaluation does not address the core issue that inspired the mandated review, namely, funding to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) “involved in racist anti-Semitic or inflammatory activities.”
• In June 2017, the Swiss Parliament adopted a resolution to “amend the laws, ordinances and regulations so that Switzerland can no longer subsidize, even indirectly, development cooperation projects carried out by NGOs involved in racism or incitement.”

Direct Funding

The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA/EDA) funds multiple Israeli and Palestinian NGOs directly through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC/DEZA), Department of Human Security, Abteilung Menschliche Sicherheit (AMS), the Swiss Embassy in Tel-Aviv, and the Swiss Representative Office in Ramallah. See table below for full funding information.

Swiss Funding to Palestinian NGOs

• In 2022, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) received CHF 342,300.
  • PCHR is a leader in anti-Israel lawfare campaigns, ignores the existence of terrorism against Israeli civilians, and presents a distorted version of the conflict based only on the Palestinian narrative.
  • In February 2014, the PFLP organized a ceremony in Gaza honoring PCHR director Raji Sourani for winning the “Alternative Noble (sic) Prize.” For more information on PCHR’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
• In 2022, Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) received CHF 186,200.
  • PNGO is an umbrella organization comprising 142 Palestinian NGO member organizations, many of which support BDS campaigns and have ties to the PFLP terror group. In January 2020, PNGO vehemently opposed a new clause in European Union grant contracts with Palestinian NGOs that prohibits grantees from working with and funding organizations and individuals designated on the EU’s terror lists.  PNGO claimed that Palestinian terrorist organizations are “political parties.”
  • Multiple PNGO officials have ties to terrorist organizations, and at least five PNGO members have ties to EU-designated terror organizations, including through their employees and/or board members who are directly involved in activities and programs
  • In October 2019, Waleed Hanatsheh – a member of PNGO’s board of directors and the Financial and Administrative director for Health Work Committees, an organization with ties to the PFLP – was arrested for participating in a terrorist attack in which a 17-year old was murdered. According to an Israeli media report, Hanatsheh bankrolled the bombing.
• In 2022, Ma’an Development Center received CHF 292,300.
  • In May 2019, “MA’AN’s Director General,” Sami Khader attended a memorial event organized by the PFLP that centered on PFLP political bureau member Rabah Muhanna, who, according to information posted by the PFLP, “contributed to the establishment” of several PFLP-affiliated NGOs, including UHWC, UAWC, and Addameer. The hall was decorated with PFLP paraphernalia.
  • In June 2018, Hamza Zbeldat, Ma’an Field Coordinator in Ramallah, mourned the loss of a PFLP member, describing him as “my master” and as a person who “taught me.”
  • In May 2018, Ma’an Development Center employee Ahmad Abdallah Aladini was killed in the violence on the Gaza border. Aladini was a “comrade” of the PFLP terror group.
• In 2022, Miftah received CHF 177,000.
  • Miftah regularly promotes “resistance” (a euphemism for terror attacks) and glorifies terrorists. Miftah also utilizes anti-Israel rhetoric, such as accusing Israel of perpetrating “massacres,” “cultural genocide,” “war crimes,” and “apartheid.”
  • In March 2013, Miftah published an article written by Nawaf al-Zaru that repeated the antisemitic blood libel that Jews use Christian blood to bake Passover matzah.
• In 2022, Palestinian Vision (PalVision) received CHF 214,500.
  • Many of PalVision’s board members, officials, and employees have justified and glorified violence against Israeli civilians and praised individual terrorists and terrorist attacks
• In 2022, Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC) received CHF 360,500.
  • Accuses Israel of “collective punishment,” “human rights violations,” “women’s rights violations,” and seeking “to “suppress resistance” by “targeting civil society in order to obtain land and continue to undermine the economic stability, the growth and the development of Palestinian society.”
  • Supports BDS initiatives  through participation in activities and events, signing of petitions and initiatives, and membership in BDS platforms.
• In 2022, Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC) received CHF 184,000.
  • JLAC is highly active in promoting BDS campaigns, lobbying international bodies, and utilizing highly inflammatory rhetoric.
  • In 2010, JLAC published the first edition of its book We Have Names, We Have a Homeland, which alleges that “brutality and sadism is the true face of Zionism and the State of occupation” and accuses Israel of “savage,” “abhorrent,” and “fascist” practices. The book continues to ask, “Has the history of humanity ever known such brutality as practiced at the hands of Israel…?”
• In 2022, Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) received CHF 631,000.
  • GCMHP uses unsubstantiated medical claims as an avenue to criticize the Israeli government, including allegations that Israel engages in “systematic state organized violence,” “collective punishment” “massacres,” “war crimes,” and a system of “apartheid” against Palestinians.
• In 2021, Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA) received CHF 450,000.
  • Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA) is signatory to the March 2016 “Palestinian Women’s Call for Worldwide Women’s Endorsement of BDS.” CFTA’s Director Mariam Zakoot signed a 2016 statement from Palestinian feminists supporting BDS and “deplor(ing) the colonial attitude inherent in some Israeli feminists’ request of us to sign a statement in favor of liberal ideals, ‘dialogue’ and ‘co-existence,’ and against the effective solidarity with the struggle for rights.”
• In 2020, Addameer received CHF 135,763.
  • Addameer is an “affiliate” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. Several of Addameer’s current and former employees, as well as lawyers that work for Addameer, are linked to the terror group.
  • On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Addameer a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.” For more information on Addameer’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Addameer’s Ties to the PFLP Terrorist Group.”
  • Addameer is a leader of campaigns in support of Palestinians prisoners convicted of security offenses, referring to them as “political prisoners” and altogether omitting the context of violence and terror.
• In 2020, Al-Dameer received CHF 11,740.
  • Numerous Al-Dameer staff members and board members have ties to the PFLP. According to Palestinian sources, Al-Dameer officials, employees and board members have taken part in public PFLP gatherings, including congratulating the terror group on the anniversary of its founding, and participating in a PFLP delegation in Gaza. For more information on Al-Dameer’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Al-Dameer’s Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
  • Al-Dameer is highly active in promoting BDS campaigns, lobbying international bodies, and utilizing highly inflammatory rhetoric.

Swiss Funding to Israeli NGOs

• In 2022, Adalah received CHF 202,400.
  • Adalah rejects the legitimacy of the Jewish state, attempting to portray it as inherently racist and discriminatory, and regularly lobbies the Israeli Supreme Court and international bodies to adopt its agenda. Adalah also partners with anti-Israel BDS groups.
    • In July 2021, after the Israeli Supreme Court upheld the Jewish Nation-State Basic Law, Adalah published a press release labelling “the Israeli regime, as a colonial one, with distinct characteristics of apartheid” (emphasis added).
  • Supports a “transformation [of Israel] in to a transnational regime in all historical Palestine,” i.e. a one-state formula. (translation by NGO Monitor)
  • Signed a May 2018 letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, calling for sanctions against Israel due to the violent riots along the Gaza-Israel border.
• In 2022, Breaking the Silence received CHF 213,750.
  • Breaking the Silence makes sweeping accusations based on anecdotal, anonymous, and unverifiable accounts of often low-ranked soldiers. These “testimonies” lack context, are politically biased, and erase the complicated reality in the West Bank. In addition, they reflect a distorted interpretation of the conflict in order to advance the political agenda of Breaking the Silence activists, thereby fueling the international campaigns against Israel.
  • In June 2015, the cultural center in Zurich hosted an event featuring a Breaking the Silence photo exhibition, as well as “testimonies.” The event was sponsored by the Swiss Foreign Ministry, the Municipality of Zurich, and several church groups that are active in delegitimization campaigns against Israel.
• In 2022, B’Tselem received CHF 100,725.
  • B’Tselem actively pursues its political agenda of “international consequences” and international pressure on Israel via lobbying of the UN and European governments.
  • In January 2021, B’Tselem launched a discriminatory and hateful campaign, under the banner of “A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid.” As part of the campaign, B’Tselem attacked Israel’s role as a haven for the Jewish people (the Law of Return) and used the phrase “from the river to the sea” – echoing long-standing Palestinian terminology for the destruction of Israel. (Read NGO Monitor’s analysis: “From the “River to the Sea”: B’Tselem’s Demonization Crosses the Line.”)
• In 2022, Emek Shaveh received CHF 171,065.
  • While Emek Shaveh claims that it “oppose[s] attempts to use archaeological finds to legitimize acts that harm disadvantaged communities,” it promotes distorted facts and unsubstantiated positions that promote the Palestinian narrative of victimization and sole Israeli aggression.
• In 2022, Gisha received CHF 80,300.
  • Employs “apartheid” rhetoric and vocabulary based on international law and human rights to promote a partisan political and ideological agenda.
  • In January 2021, Gisha published an article titled “Naming the reality,” writing that the “word apartheid evokes revulsion, as it should. There are undoubtedly differences between the apartheid regime in South Africa and Israel, but the thread that connects them is undeniable.”
• In 2022, Hamoked received CHF 354,000.
  • HaMoked makes inaccurate and inflammatory allegations of Israeli “apartheid,” “deportations,” “torture,” and “forcible transfers,” and accuses Israel of “collective punishment” and of “ghetto-ization of the West Bank.”
• In 2022, Akevot received CHF 84,000.
  • In 2021, Akevot launched a project funded by Switzerland titled “Living Memory: Expanding Space for Critical Reflection on the Israeli Palestinian Conflict through Archival Documentation.” According to the contract between the Swiss government and Akevot, the project specifically focuses on “myth-breaking” and dismantling the founding narratives of Israel.
  • Additionally, according to the contract, Swiss funding goes to researching Israeli government archives to uncover documentation of “fraught and little-known events and mechanisms that problematize or even contradict ‘the official story’ of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Akevot exposes the “Jewish-Israeli Public” to what it sees as the “root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” and pushes them to “recognize Israel’s responsibility for historical injustices.” A major component is a partnership with the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, which regularly publishes articles based on and/or by Akevot reports.
• In 2022, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel received CHF 214,200.
  • Under the guise of medical expertise and scientific fact, PHR-I promotes distorted and false narratives, aimed at demonizing and delegitimizing Israel in the international arena.
• In 2022, Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality (NCF) received CHF 75,058.
  • Active in delegitimizing Israel internationally, and one of the most active NGOs in lobbying European governments to oppose Israel’s Bedouin-Negev policies.

Indirect Funding

Switzerland also provides indirect funding to NGOs through UN frameworks; the Swiss church group HEKS; and international aid organizations such as the Norwegian Refugee Council, Diakonia, Association of International Development Agencies, and Islamic Relief Worldwide.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the occupied Palestinian territory

• In 2022-2024 SDC budgeted CHF 1.5 million to OHCHR for projects in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.
• The funding is directed to multiple NGOs including Diakonia IHL resource centre (see below), the Independent Commission of Human rights (ICHR), and other “Israeli and Palestinian NGOs supported by Switzerland.”
• In February 2020, OHCHR published a discriminatory blacklist of entities allegedly conducting activities in areas over the 1949 Armistice line. The database aimed at economically damaging companies that are owned by Jews or do business with Israel, and is ultimately meant to harm the Jewish state.

HEKS

• HEKS (Hilfswerk der Evangelischen Kirchen Schweiz) is the aid organization of the Protestant Churches of Switzerland.
• In 2021, total income was CHF 98.8 million, of which 21% which came from government sources (“Confederation/cantons/municipalities”); total expenses were CHF 89.2 million, of which CHF 1.1 million was spent in “Palestine/Israel.”
• HEKS has funded Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), Zochrot, Coalition of Women for Peace, Emek Shaveh, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I).

Diakonia

• In 2017-2021, Diakonia’s “International Humanitarian Law” (IHL) Resource Center received CHF 1.7 million from the SDC/EDA.
  • The IHL Resource Center published “An Easy Guide to International Humanitarian Law,” which focuses exclusively on Israeli policies and distorts international law and misuses terms “collective punishment,” and “proportionality.”
  • In 2018 Diakonia’s IHL launched websites focusing on Mali and Syria/Lebanon and an “international desk.” The Jerusalem IHL Resource Centre is the only one that includes detailed publications, reports, legal opinions, fact sheets, and analysis.
• Diakonia has provided funding to a number of highly biased and politicized NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict including the Alternative Information Center, B’Tselem, Gisha, Kerem Navot, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, and Who Profits.
• Diakonia supports settlement boycotts and accuses Israel of “collective punishment,” “war crimes,” and “violations of international humanitarian law (IHL),” ignoring Hamas terror attacks against Israeli civilians and Israel’s legitimate right to self-defense.

Medico International Switzerland

• In 2020, Medico International Switzerland’s income was CHF 1.3 million, of which 21% came from Swiss municipalities and cantons.
• According to Medico International Switzerland, the organization runs four projects in “Palestine/Israel.”
  • Total budget in 2020 for projects in “Palestine/Israel” was CHF 144,843.
• Medico International Switzerland funds the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS).

• 2019-2022 Funding to NGOs active in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza