Activities

• Leader in the anti-Israel “lawfare” and BDS (boycotts, divestments and sanctions) campaigns.
• Was an active participant in the 2001 Durban World Conference against Racism, which adopted the strategy of promoting the complete international isolation and demonization of Israel through legal and other forms of political warfare.
• On September 27, 2017, held an international conference titled “The Threshold from Occupation to Annexation: Assessing the Legality of Israel’s 50-year Occupation of Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.” The conference marked “50 years since the establishment of the first Israeli settlement of Gush Etzion and the revelation of Israel’s true intentions regarding the territory it occupied after the Six-Day War of 1967.”
• In July 2017, Al-Haq asserted that convicted terrorists have a “right” to receive salaries from the PA, and General Director Shawan Jabarin stated that “If their rights are eroded we are heading for a real crisis in Palestinian society and in due course toward an explosion.”
• In June 2017, Al-Haq signed a statement marking the “50th year since the start of Israel’s occupation” calling upon the international community to refrain from “recognizing, cooperating with, or providing any assistance to Israeli occupation policies and practices”; pressure Israel to “end the closure on Gaza, withdraw all Occupying Forces from Palestinian territory,…Tear down the Annexation Wall,…Release Palestinian prisoners”; and recognize “the State of Palestine.”
• In January 2017, Al-Haq, with Al-Shabaka, Society of St. Yves, Badil, and Jerusalem Legal Aid & Human Rights Center (JLAC), posted an infographic aimed at “raising awareness of Israel’s apartheid policies in the city, its effects on the Palestinian population, and the gross violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that arise.” The infographic claims that “Since 1967, apartheid prevails” and that Israel has “been enacting discriminatory policies” in Jerusalem.
• In November 2016, Al-Haq co-authored a submission to Michael Lynk, UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in the Palestinian Territories, on “Human Rights Defenders in the OPT…highlight[ing] the repressive environment within which human rights defenders (HRDs) work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The submission referred to Manal Tamimi, a fieldworker for the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC) as a “human rights defender.”
  • Tamimi frequently utilizes antisemitic and violent rhetoric and imagery on social media. In August 2015, Tamimi tweeted, “I do hate Israel, i (sic) wish a thrid Intefada (sic) coming soon and people rais (sic) up and kills all these zionist settlers everywhere.”
• In 2015 published “Divide and Conquer: A Legal Analysis of Israel’s 2014 Military Offensive Against the Gaza Strip,” presenting an entirely biased and distorted view of events leading to the 2014 Gaza War. The report claims that “On 12 June 2014, three Israeli teenage settlers disappeared near the West Bank city of Hebron. The three individuals were later found dead” (emphasis added). Al-Haq also refers to Hamas terrorists as “Palestinians linked to the resistance.”
• In November 2015, in the midst of a wave of Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians, Al-Haq and French NGO International Federation of Human Rights(FIDH) wrote a joint letter addressed to the European Union Foreign Affairs Ministers condemning Israel’s security response, calling it an attempt to “quell legitimate Palestinian opposition to Israel’s oppression.”

Ties to the PFLP

• In May 2018, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express shut down online credit card donations to Al-Haq due to the group’s ties to the PFLP.
• Shawan Jabarin
  • Al-Haq’s General Director has ties to the PFLP terrorist organization and, as a result, has been denied exit visas by Israel and Jordan. Click here to see NGO Monitor’s unofficial translation of the ruling by the Israeli High Court of Justice (June 20, 2007).
  • Jabarin was convicted in 1985 for recruiting and arranging training for members for the PFLP. A 1994 Israeli statement to the UN notes that he “had not discontinued his terrorist involvement and maintains his position in the leadership of the PFLP.”
  • In 2007, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected Jabarin’s appeal to travel abroad, stating that “the current petitioner is apparently acting as a manner of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, acting some of the time as the CEO of a human rights organization, and at other times as an activist in a terror organization which has not shied away from murder and attempted murder, which have nothing to do with rights…”
  • In 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court noted that Jabarin is “among the senior activists of the Popular Front terrorist organization.”
  • In 2009, Jabarin was again prohibited by the Israeli authorities from travelling abroad. Jabarin appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court which rejected his appeal, stating, “We found that the material pointing to the petitioner’s involvement in the activity of terrorist entities is concrete and reliable material.”
  • Shawan Jabarin is a former Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) board member.
    • Several DCI-P board members have close ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP is a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.
    • Hashem Abu Maria, coordinator of DCI-P’s community mobilization unit, was hailed by the PFLP as a “leader” after his death in 2014. On September 23, 2014, DCI-P uploaded a video of a memorial service for Abu Maria, featuring a speech by DCI-P General Director, Rifat Odeh Kassis. The courtyard where the memorial service took place was decorated with PFLP flags, posters, and pictures of prominent PFLP figures, such as founder George Habash and former leader Ahmed Sa’adat. Nearly all of the audience are dressed in PFLP apparel.

Lawfare

• Regularly files lawsuits and submits politically motivated reports to the UN Human Rights Council and other international bodies.
• Proposed sabotaging the Israeli court system by “flooding the [Israeli Supreme] Court with petitions in the hope of obstructing its functioning and resources.”
• Al-Haq has submitted various documents to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
  • In December 2017, Al-Haq, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan, and Al-Dameer submitted a document to the Prosecutor of the ICC  examining “Israel’s inability and unwillingness to conduct effective investigations ” and called for “investigation into the serious international crimes committed during the July-August 2014 Israeli military offensive.”
  • On September 20, 2017, these NGOs submitted a “substantive communication” to the Prosecutor of the ICC alleging that “high-level Israeli civilian and military officials have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem.”
  • On November 22, 2016, the four NGOs delivered a submission to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, “Requesting Investigation and Prosecution of The Illegal Closure of the Gaza Strip.”
  • In February 2016, the NGOs “provided evidence of the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity” and concluded that “high-ranking Israeli military and civilian officials committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during Operation Protective Edge.”
  • On November 23, 2015, the four NGOs submitted a document claiming evidence and testimonies of alleged Israeli “war crimes” perpetrated during the 2014 Gaza war.
• On May 14, 2016, Shawan Jabarin spoke at the “Malaga Legal Experts Conference,” organized by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), aimed at “reviewing all efforts relevant to employing the principle of Universal Jurisdiction to prosecute Israeli war criminals and how these efforts relate to action before the ICC.”
• In 2010, filed a criminal complaint against the Dutch company, Riwal, for alleged complicity “in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” The complaint was dismissed in May 2013.
• Supported the December 2009 arrest warrant secured in the UK by Hamas against Israeli opposition leader and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, claiming she bore “special responsibility for the war crimes and possible crimes against humanity that characterized Israel’s actions during the assault on Gaza.”
• Worked with Al Mezan to secure an arrest warrant in the UK against Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in September 2009.
• In 2008, Al-Haq, alongside the Bil’in Village Council, filed a lawsuit, Bil’in (Village Council) v. Green Park International Ltd. (Quebec, Canada 2008) accusing a Canadian company of “aiding, abetting, assisting and conspiring with the State of Israel” to commit “war crimes.” Canadian courts dismissed this case and imposed costs on the plaintiffs.
• In 2006, filed a case against the British government to end export licenses to Israel; it was dismissed by the UK Court of Appeal in 2008.  A similar case filed in 2009 was also dismissed in the preliminary stages.

BDS Activities

• In June 2017, Al-Haq released a statement supporting Amnesty International’s call for states to ban goods from the West Bank, and called for these types of measures to be “mainstreamed- not only amongst human rights organizations and activists, but also amongst the international community. After 50 years of occupation, third states must finally take action.”
• In March 2017, Al-Haq, along with groups including International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH),  Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS), CCFD- Terre Solidaire, and the French League of Human Rights (LDH) published a document ‘The dangerous ties between French banks and insurances companies with the Israeli occupation‘, which recommended that the French government pressure French financial institutions to “disengage without delay from any financial link with the Israeli banking system,” and create “a legislative proposal prohibiting enterprises from all sectors to invest in the settlements.”
  • The report only points to very minor and indirect connections, if at all, to settlements, and French courts have repeatedly found that such business activity is not illegal. The report was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
• In February 2016, issued a joint statement that “affirm[ed] the right of all individuals to participate in and advocate for boycott, divestment, and sanction actions, and calls on states and businesses to uphold their related legal responsibilities” and stated that the EU November 2015 labeling move against Israeli settlement products is “insufficient,” calling for a complete ban (emphasis added).
• On May 6, 2015, Al-Haq, along with FIDH and other French NGOs and unions published “Orange’s Dangerous Liaisons in the Occupies Palestinian Territory,” calling for a boycott of the Israeli mobile phone network Partner Communications (which operates under the Orange brand). The NGOs targeted the French corporation Orange Group and “the French State as Orange’s principal majority shareholder.”
  • Efforts to pressure Orange included attending the Orange annual shareholders meeting, and lobbying of the French government and the Palestinian Authority.
• Issued a 2013 position paper, “Feasting on the Occupation,” calling on the European Union and “relevant United Nations (UN) bodies” to boycott Israeli produce. The paper accuses Israel of “violations of international humanitarian law” “illegal conduct,” and “extensive destruction and appropriation of Palestinian resources.”
• In 2013, Al-Haq was part of a libelous campaign falsely suggesting that Israel steals water from Palestinians in order to interfere with cooperation between Dutch companies and the Israeli company Mekorot.

Staff

• Wesam Ahmad
  • At a June 2017 CERIPP conference, “United Nations Forum to Mark Fifty Years of Occupation,” Wesam Ahmad, Al-Haq Program Assistant, remarked that Israel “was a colonial project from the very beginning and in fact Israel has been able to benefit from the historical colonial practices to develop what I call ‘best business practice model of colonization’.” (Video of this statement available on UN Web TV, at 1:29:22)
  • In March 2014, Ahmad participated in a conference held by the University of Amsterdam on the topic of the “role of the European Union in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the case of businesses invested in illegal settlements, labelling settlement products and EU’s commitments to respect and promote human rights.”
  • In July 2013, Ahmad told the Financial Times that “In our opinion it is not sufficient for the European Commission to punt responsibility to the consumer…The Europeans have obligations under international law to prohibit these goods by banning them from entering the market.”
• Raja Shehadeh
  • Shehadeh is a founder of Al-Haq and a member of Military Court Watch’s advisory board.
  • On March 20, 2017, spoke at SOAS on “Is Israel afraid of peace? Reflections on the failures of international law and human rights, and on sources of hope.” Shehadeh spoke about how it “is almost 50 years since the Six-Day War. The end of those hostilities witnessed the Israeli occupation of former Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza, and the displacement of 300,000 Palestinian citizens. After half a century of devastating regional conflicts a resolution to the situation appears no closer.”
  • In a 2012 interview with the ICRC, Shehadeh stated that “the occupation is of a colonial nature. Its aim ultimately is to encourage – certainly not by using force – the Palestinians to leave and to be replaced by Israeli settlers.” He furthered that a structure was introduced to “resolve the problem of how to apply Israeli laws to one part of the population and not to the other, and how to discriminate in an official, ‘legal’ manner between the two groups of inhabitants living on the same territory. This was how apartheid was introduced to the OPT.”
  • According to Shehadeh, “we cannot speak about the occupation without speaking about the settlements and the fact that people do not see Israel only as an occupier that controls certain aspects of their lives, but as a colonizer that is after their land. It feels like a cancerous growth that is eating up their body and making normal life impossible in every way.”
• In December 2010, Maureen Claire Murphy, managing editor of Electronic Intifada and a former Al-Haq employee, was subpoenaed by the FBI to appear before a Federal Grand Jury for her work with the Palestine Solidarity Group.