Switzerland

Profile

Country/TerritorySwitzerland

Activity

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

Swiss Funding to Israeli NGOs

  • In 2021, Adalah received CHF 160,000.
    • 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.
      • On July 21 2018, the website Arab48 published an interview with Adalah’s General Director Hassan Jabareen on the “Jewish Nation State Law” (a translation of excerpts by Adalah appeared on Palestine Square). In the interview Jabareen said “We must state before the international community that the Israeli regime within and outside of the Green Line is a colonial system that is so obviously in contravention of international law that a serious question mark hangs over its very legitimacy. A deficient democratic regime is still a legitimate regime, while a colonial regime, under international law, lacks legitimacy” (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 2021, Breaking the Silence received CHF 199,500.
    • 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 2021, B’Tselem received CHF 80,000.
  • In 2021, Emek Shaveh received CHF 162,390.
    • 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 2021, Gisha received CHF 64,000.
  • In 2021, Hamoked received CHF 280,000.
  • In 2021, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel received CHF 168,000.
    • 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 2021, Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality (NCF) received CHF 70,058.
    • Active in delegitimizing Israel internationally, and one of the most active NGOs in lobbying European governments to oppose Israel’s Bedouin-Negev policies.
  • In 2019, Bimkom received CHF 33,000.
  • In 2020, I’lam received CHF 24,007.
    • I’lam uses highly politicized language to demonize Israel, promotes boycott campaigns, and engages in political advocacy against Israel.
  • Ir Amim received CHF 90,000 in 2017-2019.
    • Although Ir Amim has been described as “work[ing] toward coexistence in Jerusalem,” an Ir Amim official was quoted as saying that the group was “seeking to advance a political agenda, and was not an organization geared to promote coexistence.”
    • Ir Amim frequently accuses Israel of attempting to “Judaize” Jerusalem and promotes the Palestinian narrative on the city, including claims that “government powers are being handed over to the settler organizations” and archeological digs have become an important “tool in the fight for control” over Jerusalem.

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 2018-2021, SDC budgeted CHF 2.1 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

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

  • NRC received CHF 804,751 from EDA in 2015-2017 and an unknown amount via a Swiss-funded UN-Habitat project in 2015-2019.
  • Norwegian Refugee Council engages in lawfare and international delegitimization campaigns against Israel.
  • One of NRC’s principle projects in Israel, “Information, counseling, and legal assistance (ICLA),” exploits judicial frameworks to manipulate Israeli policy, bypassing democratic frameworks.
    • ICLA’s interventions in Israeli courts and other venues “beneficiary targets” include: “3628 opened and continuing cases for legal assistance in the West Bank (West Bank 612 new and 3016 continuing), 40 advocacy briefings given on specific HLP and residency issues (verbal or written), 10 of instances information is submitted to other UN mechanisms, and 75 public interest cases challenging unjust HLP issues.”
  • A lawyer affiliated with the NRC program stated that the objective of these cases is an attempt to “try every possible legal measure to disrupt the Israeli judicial system… as many cases as possible are registered and that as many cases as possible are appealed to increase the workload of the courts and the Supreme Court to such an extent that there will be a blockage.” (emphasis added)
  • NRC works with a narrow selection of political NGOs that promote a one-sided narrative of the conflict in implementing its legal aid and “public interest litigation” related programs. NRC partners with HaMokedJLACSociety of St. YvesTerrestrial JerusalemYesh DinBimkomPalestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR), Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan, among others.

Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA)

Diakonia

Medico International Switzerland

swisspeace

  • In 2018, swisspeace received CHF 109,372 from AMS, of which CHF 85,000 was for a joint project with Birzeit University and PalThink.
  • 2015 newsletter from a Swiss NGO swisspeace mentions the “joint effort between the political directorate of the FDFA, swisspeace, the SDC and in partnership with the UN” towards Hamas-Fatah reconciliation.
    • Swisspeace posted and then deleted a report that “swisspeace together with PalThink for Strategic Studies and the Birzeit University has facilitated meetings between Palestinian civil society.”

2017-2021 Funding to NGOs active in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza

NGO20212020201920182017
AddameerCHF 135,763CHF 139,347CHF 118,280CHF 28,063
AdalahCHF 160,000CHF 181,017CHF 194,922$158,160CHF 116,036
CHF 18,965
AkevotCHF 90,000CHF 82,053CHF 73,924CHF 77,055CHF 60,000
Al DameerCHF 11,740CHF 62,342CHF 62,998CHF 14,879
Al ShabakaCHF 73,845CHF 74,284CHF 55,787CHF 47,000
Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ)CHF 24,005CHF 80,309
Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA)CHF 22,771CHF 203,580CHF 230,000
BimkomCHF 22,226$49,000CHF 99,194
Breaking the SilenceCHF 199,500CHF 106,000CHF 201,400$80,000CHF 106,671
B’TselemCHF 80,000CHF 72,671CHF 75,367CHF 35,000CHF 66,601
Combatants for PeaceCHF 8,234
Culture and Free Thought AssociationCHF 450,000CHF 424,278CHF 358,354CHF 229,387CHF 512,126
DiakoniaCHF 496,928CHF 320,877CHF 261,479
Emek ShavehCHF 162,390CHF 33,000CHF 69,000CHF 70,000CHF 72,000
Gaza Community Mental Health ProgrammeCHF 600,000CHF 552,227CHF 658,065CHF 418,165CHF 513,762
GishaCHF 64,000CHF 32,000CHF 74,000CHF 40,000CHF 54,407
HamokedCHF 280,000CHF 316,780CHF 340,156CHF 276,780CHF 69,498
Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA)CHF 7,000CHF 28,000
Human Rights Defenders FundCHF 80,000CHF 60,519CHF 56,000CHF 67,600CHF 69,635
I’lamCHF 16,004CHF 57, 179
Ir AmimCHF 30,000
Islamic ReliefCHF 303,963CHF 232,248CHF 25,255
Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC)CHF 144,000CHF 163,094CHF 156,804CHF 141,936CHF 33,192
MasaratCHF 47,158
MIFTAHCHF 144,000CHF 162,838CHF 175,917CHF 141,936CHF 35,597
Molad$15,000CHF 60,000
Negev Coexistence ForumCHF 70,058CHF 91,420CHF 64,382CHF 69,955CHF 79,887
Norwegian Refugee CouncilCHF 525,751
Oxfam GBCHF 570,000CHF 1,243,979
PalThinkCHF 160,000CHF 20,000CHF 100,000CHF 85,000CHF 49,070
Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)CHF 276,000CHF 289,586CHF 334,971CHF 272,575CHF 66,601
Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)CHF 188,000CHF 145,156CHF 159,625CHF 113,223CHF 19,998
Physicians for Human Rights –Israel (PHR-I)CHF 168,000CHF 182,223CHF 206,371CHF 196,528CHF 66,324
Terrestrial JerusalemCHF 26,117CHF 60,000
Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)CHF 280,000CHF 313,965CHF 341,114CHF 274,607CHF 54,576

Footnotes

  1. Before 2013, the NGO Development Center (NDC) in Ramallah managed these pooled government finances through its Human Rights/Good Governance (HR/GG) program. (See NGO Monitor’s reports on the previous counterproductive funding via the NDC here and here.)

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