Press Release:
Statement Regarding Demand by NGOs to End Blockade
JERUSALEM – In response to 50 NGOs and UN agencies calling on Israel to end its blockade, NGO Monitor today released the following statement:
“This statement continues the immoral exploitation of universal human rights for political objectives,” says Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. “These NGOs and UN agencies use the façade of human rights and humanitarian aid while callously ignoring indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israeli civilians – everyone one of which is a war crime. They should be using their resources to end the massive smuggling of weapons into Gaza, rather than targeting Israel.”
“The members of the UN Secretary General’s Palmer Committee and other legal experts have declared that Israel’s blockade is legal under international law. In contrast, this and many other NGO statements have no legal validity, and are simply part of the anti-Israel campaign launched in 2001 at the infamous NGO Forum of the Durban conference. The NGOs are promoting war and destroying the moral basis of human rights.”
Steinberg adds: “European governments inexplicably fund many of the NGOs that signed this statement, including Amnesty, Cordaid (Holland), Christian Aid (UK), Diakonia (Sweden), Oxfam, and echo their political slogans. This highlights the urgent need for reform in European funding for these organizations.”