NGOs capitalize on ideological and political antagonism within the UN to bring their anti-Israel campaigns to the international stage. The devastating impact of NGOs is compounded by the institutional bias of UN bodies, such as the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on Palestinian issues, and biased “fact-finding” missions.
The Goldstone report is primarily based on NGO statements, publications, and submissions from Btselem, PCHR, Al-Haq, HRW, and many others copying the NGO biases, flawed methodology, and false claims. Following HRW and Amnesty, evidence of human shields is ignored. The report repeats NGO distortions of international law, including the false legal claim that Gaza remains occupied. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Goldstones report asserts that the data provided by non-governmental sources with regard to the percentage of civilians among those killed are generally consistent.
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The Goldstone Mission chose officials from radical anti-Israel NGOs to testify including Al Haq, AIC, and the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP). The GCMHP representative used Nazi rhetoric. HRW has obsessively supported Goldstone, who was a member of HRWs board. The process for the selection of witnesses are completely hidden, and some including PCHR were not made public. Seven NIF-funded Israeli NGOs claimed that Israel acted punitive[ly] and deliberately and knowingly shelled civilian institutions. The Mission has violated the London-Lund guidelines, lacking objectivity, transparency, neutrality, and professionalism.
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On July 22-24, 2009, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People held an NGO conference to discuss questions related to Israeli violations of international humanitarian law. Participants included Palestinian NGOs such as Badil, PCHR, and Al Haq, as well as Human Rights Watch and Israeli NGOs PHR-I, Keshev, and Adalah. HRW promoted the campaign to prevent Israel from purchasing weapons and demanded on-going international pressure on Israel. One speaker accused Jews of buying everything and controlling a global machine, money. Most NGO representatives expressed support for lawfare cases.
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Israel is scheduled to be reviewed by the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) as part of its periodic review of country compliance with the International Convention Against Torture. NGO submissions -- from Amnesty, COHRE, Adalah, Al Haq, PHR-I, and others -- invent and distort international law beyond recognition, and seek to manipulate of this UN treaty body by inserting gratuitous and false accusations regarding Israeli policies. NGOs repeat the unreliable statistics and non-credible claims of Yesh Din and BTselem. The submissions make sweeping generalizations based on limited anecdotal evidence.
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NGO representatives expressed disappointment and alienation regarding NGO participation in the Durban Review Conference. Speakers complained that their attendance at the conference was irrelevant and futile. The Outcome Document was adopted before the NGOs had the opportunity to address the plenary. These groups were only permitted to participate in the general debate on the last agenda item. UN staff explained that NGO influence was important for implementation and follow-up. The interaction between the UN and NGOs highlights the latters ambiguous status in the UN framework and the questions about whom they represent.
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UN officials are trying to prevent the type of virulent NGO activity that defined the 2001 NGO Forum at the first Durban conference. The UN sent security personnel to confront hateful posters and speech, and reportedly denied anti-Israel NGOs request for an official side-event. In contrast, Iranian president Ahmadinejad used offensive and racist language against Israel. Human Rights Watch condemned Western democracies for "undermining" the conference, not the racism and corruption of human rights by Iran and radical NGOs.
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