Under investigation by Britain’s Charity Commission for waging politicized campaigns in contravention of UK law, War on Want, a London-based non-governmental organization, says it will continue its anti-Israel activities in 2007. In a summary of its 2006 activity, War on Want says it “will make a major push for Palestine” in 2007. NGO Monitor’s January review of the organization shows that it devotes surprisingly little attention to the world’s worst human rights abusers, Sudan, Libya, and Iran, while singling out Israel in one of only two country-specific WoW campaigns.

Gerald Steinberg, Executive Director of NGO Monitor: “War on Want’s war against Israel, and its gross distortion of the context of terror, are among the worst examples in which charitable funds are exploited to promote conflict.”

WoW reports that 54 per cent of its funds go to projects for the poor overseas, while 27 percent are used for political campaigning. However, in the case of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it appears that the emphasis on extremist politics is much greater.  In contravention of its charity status, WoW spearheads the “Stop the Wall” campaign against Israel’s security barrier, which has saved countless lives, and leads divestment campaigns. NGO Monitor analysis shows that in its disproportionate number of statements condemning Israel, WoW erases Palestinian terror, dismisses the country’s security needs, concerns and human rights and continues to lobby the UK government to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement and trade accords.
 
All of these activities are outside WoW’s mandate as a charity.

Further details in NGO Monitor’s full report

 

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