Release Date: March 12th, 2008 

 
NGO Monitor:  State Department too reliant on NGOs in Israel human rights country report

(Jerusalem) – Jerusalem based watchdog NGO Monitor today criticized the reliance on biased human rights NGOs in the US State Department 2007 Annual Report on Human Rights, Israel and the occupied territories country report.  

Although the Annual Report correctly criticizes some of the worst state human rights abusers, such as Iran, Syria and Sudan, the Israel and the occupied territories country report is littered with unverifiable claims by politicized human rights NGOs.   For example, the statement on page 24 that ‘Israeli human rights organizations reported that during the last few years Israeli interrogators used psychological abuse more frequently’ is at best vague and is left unchallenged.  Worryingly, NGO Monitor noted a greater number of citations of specific politicized NGOs such as Mossawa, Adalah and Gisha in comparison to the 2006 country report. 

NGO Monitor’s Executive Director Prof Steinberg commented, ‘Although the annual report provides a useful global picture of human rights, the State Department is too reliant on the evidence of NGOs, such as Adalah and Gisha in its Israel and the occupied territories country report. Although these NGOs are highly politicized and notoriously unreliable in their claims, they enjoy an unjustified halo effect. The State Department must better understand the reality of these biased organizations in order to provide a truly accurate analysis of human rights.’           

ENDS—— 

Editors Notes:

NGO Monitor was founded to promote transparency, critical analysis and debate on the political role of human rights organizations.  For more information, see our website at

http://www.ngo-monitor.org

Please click below to view NGO Monitor’s analyses of the following relevant NGOs:

Other recent publications and reports by NGO Monitor include:-

Analyzing the NGO Campaign on Gaza – Beyond the Rhetoric – Jan 22, 2008

Human Rights Watch’s Cluster Munitions Report: Under the Façade – Feb 17, 2008

NGO Bias in pre-Annapolis Political Statements on Gaza – Nov 26, 2007

NGO Monitor’s Executive Director is, Prof. Gerald Steinberg. 

For further information, comment or interviews, contact Dan Kosky
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