Hier finden Sie den Bericht auf Deutsch

Introduction

On October 7, 2023 (which was the Sabbath and a Jewish holiday), thousands of Palestinian terrorists – members of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), all EU-designated terror entities – poured across the border from Gaza into Israel, slaughtering over 1,100, and torturing, maiming, raping and kidnapping others. Gaza Palestinians also engaged in public desecration of victims’ bodies. 

NGOs funded through German development programs (Entwicklungshilfe) with the stated aim to promote “human rights” and “international law” have failed to condemn these blatant violations of human rights and humanitarian principles. In fact, many are doing the exact opposite, justifying and celebrating the attacks in an attempt to legitimize terrorism in general and Hamas in particular by referring to this brutality  as acts of “resistance.” Some NGOs have been explicit in defending and supporting terrorism (see the examples below), and senior NGO representatives have spread messages denying Hamas’ atrocities such as the systematic rape of Israeli women. 

Like other European governments, Germany suspended aid to Palestinians in mid-October. On December 13, 2023, the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) announced the resumption of  development cooperation. According to BMZ, the internal review “has found that the safeguards are robust. No indications of the misuse of funding have been found.”

Similar reviews by the European Commission and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) reached the opposite conclusion, identifying examples of incitement to hatred and violence. Switzerland ended its contractual partnership with two Palestinian NGOs and a US-based group; and the European Commission announced the introduction of new anti-incitement contractual clauses. 

Despite media reports that Palestinian NGO Al-Haq “will no longer receive funds from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development,” the German federal government has made no official statements indicating sanctions resulting from the internal review. In general, the German federal government is one of the least transparent in Europe, making it impossible to independently evaluate the scope of funding and amounts directed to the NGO recipients. 

Although BMZ’s internal review found no evidence that local partners made  “statements that incite to hatred and violence or deny Israel’s right to exist, and antisemitism,” the following  report provides tens of examples, all easily verifiable online, from  grantee NGOs that openly incite hatred and violence. 

This report covers 12 Palestinian NGOs, one US-based group, and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), all of which have been recipients of German government funding originating with BMZ in the last ten years, via multiple funding channels, including German Development Cooperation (GIZ), Germany-funded NGOs, political foundations, and church aid organizations. 

Many of the NGOs are linked to the PFLP terror group; some of them were designated by Israel in October 2021 as terror organizations due to these close interconnections.  For more information on Germany’s funding of PFLP-linked NGOs, see NGO Monitor’s report, “Potential Abuse of German Development Resources by Terror Affiliated Palestinian NGOs,” January 2023).  

The Paris-based FIDH, which also received German governmental funds, is centrally involved in the notorious campaign accusing Israel of “genocide.” Three German-funded NGO members of FIDH, which have links to the PFLP, spearheaded the antisemitic genocide campaign and served as advisers to South Africa in the case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Examples of German-Funded NGOs that Justified Hamas’ Attack and Denied Atrocities

 

Miftah

On October 27, 2023, in an interview for Democracy Now!, founder and chair of MIFTAH’s Board of Directors Hanan Ashrawi denied Hamas’ atrocities on October 7, calling accusations of massacres, rape, and beheading of children “nonsense.”

German funding to Miftah

As reported by Miftah, GIZ provided Miftah with $63,102 in 2022.

Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)

  • On October 13, UAWC Project Coordinator Moayyad Bsharat posted on Facebook, “What is required today from the [Palestinian] Authority is simple, really simple, that it responses, in an assertive fashion on the countries that support the Zionist terror and make it clear for them what the position of the Palestinian people is about self-determination by all means available…We Palestinian are facing a mechanism of Zionist terror and its western supporting tools. Our Arab Palestinian people shall have victory no matter the time it will take” (emphasis added). On October 11, Bsharat posted on Facebook, “Is there anything more beautiful than traveling by air from Lebanese airspace to Israel airspace with a glider?! [i.e. addressing the threat posed by Hezobllah to Israel] May Allah be pleased with them. #Gone_be_the_humiliation [a shi’ite phrase said in times of waging war].”
  • On October 10, UAWC’s Director of Advocacy Saad el-Din Ziada posted on Facebook, “Do not hesitate in supporting the resistance, even by praising. It is our right and the protector of our dignity and dreams.”
  • On October 7, UAWC’s head of the Gaza Fisherman Committee Zakaria Bakr posted on Facebook, “Complete the history and change the geography, it is the great October, October of victories.”
  • On October 7, UAWC Project Coordinator Houssam Abuabdou posted on Facebook, “October 7 has witnessed the power and will of a great people.”

German funding to UAWC

  • In 2021, and 2022 (latest available data), Medico International (MI; based in Germany and Switzerland) listed joint projects with the UAWC. Although the amount earmarked to UAWC is unknown, in 2022, MI spent €1.8 million, including with the support of AA [German Federal Foreign Office], and BMZ [Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development] for its projects in “Israel/Palestine.”
  • In March 2023, UN Habitat, Global Land tool Network, and UAWC published a study paper, “Land Women Empowerment & Socioeconomic Development in the Arab Region.” As detailed in the report disclaimer, BMZ is one of the study’s strategic partners.
  • According to the response to a May 2021 Bundestag question, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation partnered with UAWC in implementing “training and analysis in the areas of food sovereignty and labor rights.” 

Note: 

  • UAWC is a PFLP-linked NGO that was designated by Israel in 2021 over its close links to the PFLP terror group. 
  • In 2019, two UAWC financial officers were arrested by Israel and are currently standing trial, accused for their involvement in a terror attack in which 17-year old Israeli Rina Shnerb was murdered.  
  • On January 5, 2022, the Netherlands announced the cancellation of a contract with UAWC citing ties to the PFLP. The report by an independent investigation commissioned by the government confirmed that 34 UAWC employees in 2007-2020 had ties to the PFLP, some holding leadership positions in the terrorist group concurrent to their employment at UAWC.
  • For more information on UAWC’s PFLP links, see NGO Monitor’s report, “Potential Abuse of German Development Resources by Terror Affiliated Palestinian NGOs,” January 2023).  

7amleh

  • On October 7, Board Member Neveen Abu Rahmoun posted on Facebook, “The Palestinian resistance is imposing a new stage since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa flood operation by resistance fighters infiltrating into numerous Israeli neighborhoods in the settlements, by creating points of contact, and by firing rockets of the resistance. Israel, in its turn, is constrained by this and has announced a state of high mobilization for war. The message of the resistance is clear, it has started and it shall escalate and shall impose a new reality.”
  • On October 9, 7amleh Project Coordinator Mohammad Badarneh posted on Facebook, “The ‘only important’ value of a human being living under occupation is the extent of his resistance to that occupation, in all possible means.”

German funding to 7amleh

According to 7amleh’s quarterly submissions to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits, in 2021-2022, the NGO received NIS 574,758 from Germany, including NIS 213,268 from the German government, NIS from NIS 197,200 via Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and NIS 164,290 from Kurve Wustrow.

Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)

  • On October 7, 2023, PCHR Fundraising and Program Officer Feda’a Murjan posted on Facebook, “We will truly step in our land. Allah, you are our protector and supporter.”

Previously, during the May 2023 Gaza conflict, PCHR published a statement in which it “affirms the Palestinian people to resist the occupation by all available means, including armed struggle….” After criticism, and under pressure from donors – including the EU – this text was amended.

German funding to PCHR

On April 6, 2023, PCHR reported it held a meeting with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH) in Gaza, in the presence of a representative from the World Health Organization (WHO). According to PCHR, this meeting fell under the “‘Promoting, Improving, Respecting, and Protecting the Right to Health in the Gaza Strip’ project funded by the Human Rights Program at the German Federal Foreign Office.” Amount not transparent.

Note: PCHR has close links to the PFLP terror group. In November 2023, Switzerland (FDFA) announced it ended its funding to PCHR over breach of FDFA’s Code of Conduct. Swiss media, citing FDFA’s Head of communications, revealed that the reason for the end of the contractual relationship between FDFA and PCHR was the latter’s problematic attitudes towards  violence. 

Al-Shabaka

Since October 7, 2023, Al-Shabaka’s employees have made tens of declarations justifying or contextualizing the Hamas massacre. For instance:

  • On October 8, Al-Shabaka tweeted, “Al-Shabaka rejects the Israeli Regime’s colonial borders that work to fragment and ultimately erase Palestinian existence. Breaching these boundaries expands the Palestinian imaginary for possibilities of both resistance and collective freedom. We recognize that decolonization is not a metaphor; it is not merely statements or analysis, but an active process that demands the dismantling of colonial power and the reclamation of land. We stand alongside those committed to this effort and to the liberation of Palestinians worldwide.”
  • On October 11, in an interview with Novara Media, ​​Al-Shabaka Senior Policy Analyst Yara Hawari stated, “This was not an unprovoked attack. There is nothing unprovoked in a situation when you have people living under colonial occupation for decades  and in Gaza under siege.”
  • On October 11, in an interview with Sky News, ​Hawari stated, “this was not a provocation by Hamas. The Israeli regime has for decades placed Palestinians under colonial occupation.”

German funding to Al-Shabaka

  • According to Al-Shabaka annual reports, in 2021 and 2022, Al-Shabaka received financial support from Heinrich Böll Stiftung.
  • Note: In November 2023, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) announced it ended its funding to Al-Shabaka over breach of FDFA’s Code of Conduct. Swiss media, citing FDFA’ s Head of communications, revealed that the reason for the end of the contractual relationship between FDFA and Al-Shabaka was the latter’s problematic attitudes towards  violence.

Association for Woman and Child Protection (AISHA)

  • On October 16, 2023, Taghreed Jomaa, Chair of the Board at Aisha Association for Woman and Child Protection, shared a Facebook post denying the Hamas massacre and that bodies of victims were burnt. The post suggested, using graphic images, that Israel was presenting  a picture of a burnt dog as that of a burnt child. The post, referring to a well-known hate propagandist, read: “Western support for Israel is because of a dog??? American journalist Jackson Hinkle revealed that the photo of the charred child published by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fake. Netanyahu said that it was of an Israeli child who was burned by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). According to a report by Fatima Triki, the American journalist revealed that the photo of the alleged Israeli child is [actually] one of a dog in a veterinary clinic that was distorted using artificial intelligence, but Western media is quick to repeat Netanyahu’s lies without verification or evidence.”

German funding to AISHA

According to a 2020 publication, AISHA “held a special training in Life Skills, as part of the project ‘Women are able to compete: more job opportunities for young women in Gaza City’ in partnership with German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) and funded by Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).” Amount not transparent.

Note: Members of Aisha’s board of directors, Taghreed Jomaa and Elias al-Jelda, have served as PFLP Central Committee members (see NGO Monitor’s report “EU NGO Funding for the West Bank and Gaza in 2022,” September 2023)

Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)

  • On October 7, 2023, President Mustafa Barghouti declared: “Today is a glorious day for the Palestinian resistance and people. The resistance paid with interest for the attacks of the terrorist settlers, and for the attacks against the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It paid with interest for those who normalize [their relations] with the occupation.”
  • On December 6, 2023, Baghouthi tweeted: “The Israeli establishment and government are conducting a black media campaign spreading the false propaganda about rape of Israeli women on the 7th of October to justify the horrific war crimes they are committing in Gaza. American media itself revoked the allegations of rape.”
  • According to Wattan, during a demonstration held “in support of the resistance in Gaza” on October 10, Barghouti stated, “These marches affirm the Palestinian people’s support in the resistance and that the Palestinian people is united wherever it is.” 
  • On October 7, in an interview with Al Jazeera, Barghouti stated, “This initiative by the resistance that we have seen is a response to Israeli settlers’ terror that has been taking place all over the West Bank with the protection of the Israeli army…. It is a reaction to the attacks on the Aqsa mosque and the process of judaization of not only Jerusalem and the Aqsa mosque but the whole of the West Bank…but maybe politically it is also a response to those who thought that through normalization with the Arab countries they can liquidate and marginalize the Palestinian issue. It is coming back in the most possible forcible way…It shows that Israel is not almighty and also it shows what Palestinians can do when they are determined to resist for their freedom…”
  • In televised statement broadcasted on Wattan on October 15, Barghouti claimed, “The Palestinians are subjected to a new Nakba now, one that is more dangerous and worse than the 1948 Nakba…Israel, with full support from the US and unfortunate backing from western countries, is committing four dangerous actions against the Palestinian people: Dehumanizing Palestinians, collective punishment, ethnic cleansing and genocide. ‘Israel’ is attempting to dehumanize and demonize Palestinians, and falsely claim that Hamas is ISIS, by various lies which some media outlets have retracted from, as the CNN reporter who apologized who spreading fake news about the beheading of Israeli children, in addition to the LA Times newspaper that apologized for its false claims on incidents on rape…Barghouti warned from black propaganda that is spread  by ‘israel’ and fabrication of news in order to commit war crimes against the Palestinian people…’Israel’ is exploiting current events to carry out schemes that it has been planning for the past years…” 

German funding to PMRS

According to a May 2023 publication by the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), PMRS “is implementing a project to strengthen the resilience of the health system and the food sovereignty of patients with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and to promote sustainable qualitative, reliable, and efficient structure in health care services for NCDs in the Gaza Strip which is marked by protracted crisis and humanitarian aid. The project is implemented in partnership with Medico International and financed by the Federal Republic of Germany – BMZ.” Amount not transparent.

Al-Haq

  • On October 10, Al-Haq Head of the Training and Capacity Building Unit Ziad Hmaidan wrote on Facebook, “It is written in the Hadith: ‘You must wage jihad. The best jihad is preparing for war, and it is best to prepare for war in Ashkelon’.”
  • On October 10, Al-Haq Legal Researcher and Advocacy Officer Ahmed Abofoul tweeted, “It is outrageous to call on Palestinian resistance (permitted by international law) to CEASE its attacks while asking the occupying power ONLY to respect IHL.”
  • On October 12, Al-Haq Legal Researcher and Advocacy Officer Aseel Al-Bajeh tweeted, “We don’t need to speak of our right to resist, for it is not a right, but a way of being & survival for Palestinians. We don’t demand our right to narrate. Our ability to narrate was never out of our hands & resistance doesn’t need the pre- approval of static int’l law codes. Its not ‘our duty to expose the bloody barbarism of zionism, their actions as a fascist state & a ruthless army are more than sufficient to undertake this task. We remain attached to our land & in our humanity, as Pal Arabs no need to prove our humanity to those who have lost it.”
  • On October 9, Hmaidan shared a picture on Facebook of a Palestinian terrorist Ibrahim Nabulsi aiming a gun, and wrote, “A message of intense love. The picture of one of the men of the ‘flood’ [referring to the name ‘the flood of Al-Aqsa’ given by Hamas to the murderous October 7 attacks], during a confrontation in one of the [israeli] bases that was stormed [by Palestinian terrorists]. This picture carries a thousand signs and meanings. Observe the picture that the sniper of the flood stuck on his rifle. Do you recognize who is in the picture? This is the intense love is for Ibrahim [Nabulsi].”
  • On October 9, Hmaidan posted on Facebook, “To Palestine alone we give everything, until it is pleased. And for what the world wants – may it go to hell.”
  • On October 11, 2023, Al-Haq Legal Researcher and Advocacy Officer Aseel Al-Bajeh tweeted, “‘The process of liberation is irresistible & irreversible & in order to avoid serious crises, an end must be put to colonialism & all practices of segregation & discrimination associated therewith’ UN resolution 1514, binding on all states!”
  • On October 7, Al-Bajeh tweeted by quoting Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh, “Leave our land, get out of our faces.”

German Funding to Al-Haq

  • In 2021-2024, Weltfriedensdienst (WFD; BMZ-funded German NGO) is implementing a project, “Side by side: strengthening civil society forces,” with Al-Haq, Defense for Children International– Palestine (DCI-P), and BADIL. Amount not transparent. (Funding under the same title was provided from 2017-2021, and perhaps earlier.)
  • In 2020-2023, BMZ provides Brot Fur Die Welt with €511,065  for a project titled “Human rights and Globalization.” Al-Haq is a partner (out of 17) of the project (amount unknown) managed by FIDH. 
  • In 2021, Medico International listed a project implemented by Al-Haq (amount unknown).

Note: Al-Haq is a PFLP-linked NGO that was designated by Israel in 2021 over its close links to the PFLP terror group. For more information on Al-Haq’s PFLP links, see NGO Monitor’s report, “Potential Abuse of German Development Resources by Terror Affiliated Palestinian NGOs,” January 2023).

Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P) 

  • On October 8, 2023, DCI-P Advocacy Officer Miranda Cleland tweeted, “It is beyond insulting and blatantly racist to assume Palestinians resisting Israeli colonization & trying to take back their land will result in anti-Semitic attacks in DC. What a joke” (emphasis added). Cleland shared a statement by the Mayor of DC condemning the Hamas attacks and committing to protect the Jewish community in DC.

German Funding to DCI-P

  • In 2021-2024, Weltfriedensdienst (WFD; BMZ-funded German NGO) is implementing a project, “Side by side: strengthening civil society forces,” with Defense for Children International– Palestine (DCI-P), Al-Haq, and BADIL. Amount not transparent. (Funding under the same title was provided from 2017-2021, and perhaps earlier.)
  • In January 2022, DCI-P published a video clip accusing “Israeli forces and settlers” of “regularly target[ing] Palestinian children on their way to and from school.” The video clip bears the logo of DCI-P, Save the Children, and German Cooperation (unclear if it’s BMZ or GIZ). In 2018-2021, Save the Children Germany, using an unknown amount provided by BMZ, implemented a project in the West Bank and Gaza.

Note: DCI-P is a PFLP-linked NGO that was designated by Israel in 2021 over its close links to the PFLP terror group. For more information on DCI-P’ s PFLP links, see NGO Monitor’s report, “Potential Abuse of German Development Resources by Terror Affiliated Palestinian NGOs,” January 2023).  

BADIL

  • On October 9, BADIL tweeted, “Impunity and double standards are no longer acceptable! In pursuit for their liberation, the Palestinian people have an equal right to resist.”
  • On October 8, BADIL tweeted, “Nothing about the Palestinian resistance is unprovoked. The Palestinian people have been suffering for 75 years of colonial-apartheid regime, ethnic cleansing, forcible transfer/displacement…massacres on Palestinian towns, desecration of Palestinian holy sites…In seeking the inalienable rights of self-determination and return, resistance is the most human and legitimate act” (emphasis added).
  • In December 2023, BADIL published the report “The Palestinian People Have a Right to Armed Struggle by Virtue of their Inalienable Right to Self-Determination,” blatantly denying the right of Israel to exist. According to BADIL “It is important to note that the establishment of the State of Palestine on the pre-1967 borders does not realize the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, and so does not preclude the legitimacy of their collective acts in pursuit of self-determination. Rather, as long as their right to self-determination is not fully implemented by all and for all, the right to resist is activated, irrespective of whether or not a state for (some) Palestinians has been created and is gradually recognized by members of the international community” (emphasis in original).

German Funding to BADIL

In 2021-2024, Weltfriedensdienst (WFD; BMZ-funded German NGO)  is implementing a project, “Side by side: strengthening civil society forces,” with BADIL, Al-Haq, and Defense for Children International–Palestine (DCI-P). Amount not transparent. (Funding under the same title was provided from 2017-2021, and perhaps earlier.)

Bisan Research and Development Center

  • On October 10, Bisan Board Member Nadia Habash shared a statement on Facebook by the Order of Engineers & Architects – Beirut, writing, “Much respect for the Order of Lebanese Engineers and the president of the union Aref Yasin for this respected position which supports our legitimate fight, and for their announcement on a demonstration in support of ‘The Al-Aqsa flood…’” According to the statement Habash shared, “The resistance against the occupation by all means is a national, human and moral duty…the Al-Aqsa flood operation, which made the enemy lose its balance is a unique development in the resistance’s methods, in this historic confrontation the resistance has won and has become more powerful…May the resisting  steadfast Palestinian people have a blessing of greatness and honor, and may the resistance fighter martyrs and incent martyrs have glory and eternal life. Palestine shall remain Arab and the occupation will be gone…”
  • On October 10, Habash published a statement by the Professional Association Complex, which stated, “Today we look with pride on our brave resistance which is writing the most terrifying sights of strength and glory, and trampling the enemies of our nation and returning stolen rights. We congratulate this victory and attest before Allah that we are all soldiers under the command of the Palestinian resistance…Get ready, oh free man of the nation, and support your resistance in all levels, wherever you are, this is your day, a day of Allah…Long live Gaza, and long live Palestine, free and proud. May our beloved resistance go on and be unbreakable.”
  • On October 11, Habash shared pictures from a demonstration “in loyalty to the blood of the [Palestinian] journalists and in anger over the criminals who are committing massacres against journalists in Gaza,” in which she participated. Habash wrote, “the engineers association [which Habash heads] participated in this demonstration in support of the brave resistance in the revolutionary Gaza [Strip] and to affirm the support in the Palestinian narrative and image and to protect journalists…” 

German funding to Bisan

In 2020 and 2021, jointly with Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung, Bisan published The Progressive Journal.

Note: Bisan is a PFLP-linked NGO that was designated by Israel in 2021 over its close links to the PFLP terror group. For more information on Bisan’ s PFLP links, see NGO Monitor’s report, “Potential Abuse of German Development Resources by Terror Affiliated Palestinian NGOs,” January 2023).

Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)

  • On October 8, PNGO published a statement demanding “National unity to combat the challenges and to supply international protection to the Palestinian people.” According to the statement, “We in PNGO salute this honorable image that our people are sketching.” The statement further called for the world to “see the true reality, which is that the Palestinian people have been facing, for more than 75 years, a racist, fascist occupation…The Palestinian people are living in a national liberation phase and do not deal with the illusions of peace that is based on imposing a fait accompli. They are resisting this with all valor and sacrifice.” (translated from the original Arabic by NGO Monitor).

German funding to PNGO

As reported in a Bild exposé, GIZ acknowledged that in 2014-16, it provided €70,000 to PNGO. According to GIZ, Germany funds PNGO “so that this network of Palestinian NGOs can better coordinate its activities.”

Note:

  • PNGO is an umbrella organization, defends the legitimacy of Palestinian “resistance,” and opposes normalization with Israel and Israelis. Several PNGO members have been designated for their PFLP links, and two PNGO board members are currently standing trial for terror-related offenses. For more information on PNGO’ s PFLP links, see NGO Monitor’s report, “Potential Abuse of German Development Resources by Terror Affiliated Palestinian NGOs,” January 2023).  
  • In November 2023, Switzerland (FDFA) announced it ended its funding to PNGO over breach of FDFA’s Code of Conduct. Swiss media, citing FDFA’ s Head of communications, revealed that the reason for the end of the contractual relationship between FDFA and PNGO was the latter’s problematic attitudes towards  violence.

German-Funded NGOs Spearhead “Genocide” Accusations

On December 12, 2023, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), an international NGO based in Paris, publicized a resolution headlined, “Israel’s unfolding crime of genocide and other crimes in Gaza and against the Palestinian People.” It had been written and adopted during a meeting of FIDH’s international board in November 2023.

The resolution packages several false accusations related to the current war (“Israel’s use of starvation as a tool of warfare” and “forced displacement”), alongside recurrent themes of antisemitic NGO demonization (“apartheid,” “systematic domination and oppression over the Palestinian people for over 75 years”), to disingenuously conclude that “Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people constitute an unfolding genocide.”

This resolution is part of a campaign of atrocity inversion, aimed at portraying Israel as the worst violator of human rights in the world. NGOs accuse the Jewish State of genocide in order to distract from the  October 7 Hamas pogrom, the world’s deadliest one-day massacre in more than 20 years (see NGO Monitor’s report: “NGO Atrocity Inversion: False Accusations of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing to Distract from Hamas Massacre”).

FIDH members Al-Haq (Al-Haq is also represented on FIDH’s international board), PCHR, and Al Mezan clearly influenced the resolution. The three NGOs, all linked to the PFLP terror group, promoted the “genocide” canard at the earlist stages of the war. For instance, on October 11, Al-Haq tweeted, “For the fifth day, the occupation forces continue to launch their attacks on the #Gaza Strip… in such a way that amounts to acts of genocide” (translated from the original Arabic). On October 15, Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and PCHR published a joint statement on Twitter/X claiming that “Palestinians are facing an impending genocide.”

The NGO campaign extended to the South African case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The directors of the three NGOs – Shawan Jabarin (Al-Haq), Raji Sourani (PCHR), and Issam Younis (Al-Mezan) – served as advisers of the South African delegation at the ICJ.

Shawan Jabarin

Raji Sourani

  • Raji Sourani, founder and director of the PCHR, was “prohibited from leaving Palestine (sic) from 1977 to 1990.” According to a 1995 article in the Washington Report, Raji Sourani served “a three-year sentence [1979-1982] imposed by an Israeli court which convicted him of membership in the illegal Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine…” He was also denied a US entry visa in 2012. Sourani was imprisoned an additional three times “in 1985 and 1986…” and held in administrative detention in 1988. From 1986 to 1987 he was “restricted from legal work for one year by an Israeli military decision issued by the Israeli Military Governor.”
  • In February 2014, the PFLP organized a ceremony in Gaza honoring Sourani for winning the “Alternative Noble Prize.” Rabah Muhana, a member of the PFLP Political Bureau, delivered a speech at the prize ceremony. During the ceremony Sourani stated that “I was in the ranks of the Popular Front, and there were comrades who taught us with their own hands. This organization has given us much more. We hope that the direction and the sense of belonging that were planted inside us will remain in our minds. We don’t apologize and don’t regret our past, we are proud that once we were members of this organization and we fought in its ranks.”

German funding to FIDH

In 2020-2023, according to Die Welt, FIDH received €511,065 from BMZ (channeled through Bread for the World) for a project involving Al-Haq as an implementing partner.

German funding to Al Mezan

In 2022 (latest available data), Medico International (MI; based in Germany and Switzerland) listed joint projects with Al Mezan. Although the amount earmarked to Al Mezan is unknown, in 2022, MI spent €1.8 million, including with the support of AA [German Federal Foreign Office], and BMZ [Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development] for its projects in “Israel/Palestine.”

German funding to Al Haq and PCHR – See above