HaMoked - Center for the Defense of the Individual

Profile

Country/TerritoryIsrael
Websitehttp://www.hamoked.org/home.aspx
Founded1988
In their own words“Main objective is to assist Palestinians of the Occupied Territories whose rights are violated due to Israel's policies.”

Funding

Activities

Legal Activity

  • According to Hamoked, the NGO took part in 301 new legal activities in 2016 and another 305 in 2017.
  • In several cases, Hamoked petitioned the Israeli High Court in the name of family members of terrorists, “Against the confiscation and demolition orders issued to the homes of Palestinians who are accused or suspected of committing murderous attacks.”
  • Publishes “Case Summaries” that aim to “illustrate the mechanisms of the occupation” by “provid[ing] administrative and legal assistance to Palestinian individuals, who have been directly harmed by the injustices of the Israeli occupation.”
  • Court Watch” section of website “examines Israeli court decisions on issues relating to the occupation” and issues petitions addressing “the measures taken by Israel to control the OPT and manage the life of the protected population – restrictions on freedom of movement, violations of the right to family life, house demolitions, the settlements, the use of administrative detention, torture, and more.”
  • In 2021, HaMoked represented Salah Hamouri when his residency permit was revoked by Israel.
  • In April 2018, HaMoked, together with Yesh DinGisha, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), petitioned the High Court of Justice demanding that the “Court order the cancellation of open-fire regulations allowing IDF soldiers to fire live ammunition at demonstrators who do not endanger the lives of soldiers on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.” The petition ignores the violent nature of the protests, which included Molotov cocktails, arson, and attempts to breach the border fence with Israel.
  • HaMoked has also represented the families of the terrorists responsible for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli boys, the Har Nof massacre (together with the PFLP affiliated NGO Addameer), the Henkin family murder, and the murders of Dani Gonen and Malachi Rozenfeld.

Political Advocacy

Staff

  • In September 2017, Jessica Montell became the Executive Director of Hamoked.
    • Montell is the former Director of B’Tselem and SISO: Save Israel, Stop the Occupation.
    • Montell has said: “I think the word apartheid is useful for mobilizing people because of its emotional power. In some cases, the situation in the West Bank is worse than apartheid in South Africa.”
    • In 2009, Montell claimed that “Israel has only itself to blame” for Goldstone’s one-sided conclusions and recommendations. She also stated that Israel was “shoot[ing] the messenger and bury[ing] its head in the sand.”
  • Daniel Seidemann, founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem, is a Board Member of HaMoked.
    • Seidemann has claimed that Israel’s actions in Jerusalem are “contributing to the transformation of a resolvable national-political conflict into an intractable mix of jihad, war of mitzvah, and Armageddon – a religious war driven by the Biblical imagery.”
    • On July 4, 2017, Seidemann spoke at a Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) briefing on “Jerusalem, 50 Years On: Unification or Occupation?” stating that “Israel has a choice…either it can have its united Jerusalem, or it can have international legitimacy. It cannot have both.” Seidemann furthered that “while it used to be a ‘benign’ occupation that existed,” it was now an “’unapologetic’ and ‘metastasizing’ occupation which exercises constant collective punishment” (emphasis added).
    • In July 2017, Seidemann stated in an interview with the World Council of Churches (WCC) that “For most of the time since 1967, the occupation of the West Bank has been military, while it has been of a more colonial nature in east Jerusalem. There is no military rule there, although the Israelis crush anything more radical than a scout meeting. And Palestinians are permanently politically disempowered.”
    • In a June 2017 interview with the BBC, Seidemann stated that the “greatest threat to the Jewish people in this generation to be perpetual occupation and Israelis are in a state of clinical denial.” When asked “What’s the mechanism that brings Israel to an end if you don’tdisengage from occupation,” Seidemann answered “Decay [and] isolation.”

Partners

Partial list of foreign donations (amounts in NIS)

2018-2020 amounts based on NGO annual financial reports; 2021 amounts based on quarterly financial reports submitted to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits.

Donor2021202020192018
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) 950,0361,031,9781,340,1211,605,393
Switzerland1,178,0971,130,5001,216,7511,024,800
European Union117,000551,583667,049
UNDP/UNICEF243,022217,714413,247175,863
Misereor (Germany) 702,746195,000604,960884,164
Oxfam-Novib (Netherlands)68,071164,222219,52911,054
UN OCHA199,866
United Kingdom160,74044,700
UNVFVT (United Nations)146,250144,800

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