United States

Introduction

Over the course of 2018 and 2019, the US Administration cut most USAID and State Department funding to Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as to the UN Reliefs and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

NGO Monitor analyses revealed previous instances of US funding to Palestinian organizations that promote BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions), delegitimize Israel, engage with terror-affiliated individuals, and glorify violence.

The majority of US funds were not distributed to organizations that engaged in these activities or that employed such rhetoric.

Profile

Country/TerritoryUnited States

Activity

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF):

  • In 2017-2019, PCFF was granted $1.2 million for “cultivating a culture of nonviolence.”
  • PCFF claims to advocate for “reconciliation,” “dialogue,” and “knowledge of the other.” It is widely criticized in Israel, in particular by groups of bereaved families, for exploiting the grief of families and the language of peace to promote a highly divisive, contentious, and narrow personal agendas.

Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR):

  • In 2015-2017, PCDCR was granted $600,000 to “improve protection of the rights of children in the West Bank.”
  • On May 18, 2018, PCDCR sponsored a workshop at the Dar al Huda kindergarten, “Training of Teachers on Positive Discipline in Everyday Teaching.”
    • On May 26, 2018, the Dar al Huda kindergarten in Gaza held a graduation ceremony that included the mock killing and kidnapping of Israelis by children dressed as combatants.1 The simulation included sophisticated equipment such as drones, body cameras, military fatigues, body armor, and sniper camouflage. Children wore headbands representing Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), designated as a terrorist organization by the US, EU, and others.

Friends United Meeting (FUM):

Women Media and Development (TAM):

USAID beneficiaries involved in anti-Israel activity:

OrganizationAmount GrantedDate
Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR)$600,0002015-2017
Women Media and Development (TAM)$500,0002017-2019
$600,0002015-2018
Friends United Meeting (FUM)$800,0002017-2021
$700,0002015-2019
Parents Circle Family Forum$1,200,0002017-2019
$990,3082014-2019

National Endowment for Democracy (NED)

  • According to its website, National Endowment for Democracy (NED) provides more than 1,600 grants “to support the projects of non-governmental groups abroad who are working for democratic goals in more than 90 countries.”
  • According to its website, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is funded “largely by the U.S. Congress” and is “subject to multiple layers of oversight by Congress, the Department of State, and independent financial audit.”
  • In 2019, NED funded political advocacy NGOs that have ties to US-designated terror organizations, have invited members of US-designated terror organizations to participate in their public events, and have promoted BDS campaigns targeting Israel. Such groups include: Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights, Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (see above), Palestinian Vision, General Union of Cultural Centers (GUCC), and Civitas Institute. (See table below for further funding information.)

Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights

PalThink for Strategic Studies

Filastiniyat

Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR)

  • In 2016-2019, NED granted $183,700 to PCDCR (see above section on USAID funding for more information on PCDCR activity).

General Union of Cultural Centers (GUCC):

  • In 2016-2019, NED granted $133,000 to GUCC to “promote the role of youth in civic and public life as part of Palestinian reform efforts.”
  • On May 9, 2019, GUCC signed a call for a “global boycott of the Eurovision song contest held in Apartheid Israel on 18th May.”
  • GUCC was a signatory to an August 16, 2018 open letter by “Palestinian Cultural Organizations” that accused Israel of “acts of genocide in Gaza” and called for “a wide campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel in response to its well documented, premeditated war crimes in Gaza.”
  • In 2010, GUCC sponsored an exhibition that included works commemorating “the occasion of first [sic] anniversary of the war [sic] the Nazi Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip” (emphasis added).

Civitas Institute

  • In 2016-2019, NED granted Civitas $148,900 to “engage youth in Gaza in civic action, oversight, and interaction with national representatives on accountability and anti-corruption measures.”
  • On May 9, 2019, Civitas signed a call for a “global boycott of the Eurovision song contest held in Apartheid Israel on 18th May.”
  • Civitas was signatory to an August 16, 2018 letter by “Palestinian Cultural Organizations” that accused Israel of “acts of genocide in Gaza” and called for “a wide campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel in response to its well documented, premeditated war crimes in Gaza.”

NED Funding to Palestinian NGOs

OrganizationAmount GrantedDate
Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR)$42,0002019
$42,0002018
$42,0002017
$57,7002016
Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights$30,0002019
$30,0002018
$30,0002017
$36,0002016
Civitas Institute$36,0002019
$36,0002018
$35,9002017
$41,0002016
The General Union of Cultural Centers-Gaza (GUCC)$38,0002019
$38,0002018
$57,0002016
PalThink for Strategic Studies $30,0002019
$35,0002017
Filastiniyat$49,1002019
$49,1002017
$49,1002016
The Human Rights and Democracy Media Center (SHAMS)$32,0002018
$30,0002017
$30,7002015

US State Department

Women Against Violence (WAV)

  • Awarded $252,125 in 2019 for “Making VAWG [violence against women and girls] prevention a local resource: a collaborative program with Arab local councils to improve policing and violence protection services.
  • In February 2016, Naila Awad, the CEO of WAV, was fired from the Help Center for Victims of Sexual Assault after alleging that “there are many studies that prove that IDF soldiers are sexually abusing and raping Palestinian women in the West Bank.”

United States Institute of Peace (USIP)

  • According to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP)- founded and funded by Congress- it is  “dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical, and essential for U.S. and global security.”
  • With regards to Israel, USIP “works to strengthen diplomatic peacemaking efforts; enhance community security for Israelis and Palestinians; empower Palestinian and Israeli civil society actors to build trust within and between their societies and build institutional capabilities that prepare the ground for a just, peaceful and sustainable solution to the conflict.”
  • USIP has awarded grants to Israeli NGO Ir Amim.
  • Ir Amim
    • Ir Amim was awarded $75,000 in 2018 for “engaging Young Ultra-Orthodox Leaders for Peace.”
    • Although it 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 of the city, including claims that “government powers are being handed over to the settler organizations.” The organization also cites the importance of archeological digs as a “tool in the fight for control” over Jerusalem.
    • An Ir Amim blog entry in the Huffington Post (April 27, 2010) appeals to the United States government to: “Threaten [Israel] with severing diplomatic ties. Threaten us with cutting back on, or even cutting off, the annual support package. Bludgeon us over the head and force us to wise up.”

Footnotes

  1. Video on file with NGO Monitor
  2. FUM operates Friends United Press, the recipient of USAID grants.

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