Following NGO Monitor’s previous report on denunciations of Israel’s response to the June 25 abduction of Corporal Gilad Shalit, additional NGOs have joined in the condemnations of Israeli policy. Following the Palestinian position, some seek to de-legitimize Israel’s right to defend its citizens and free kidnapped soldiers.

  • HRW released two statements on July 6 that focused disproportionately on the Israeli response and understated Palestinian responsibility. Despite its "human rights" focus, HRW did not call for Corporal Shalit’s release. HRW’s written statement called for an "independent investigation" into Israel’s actions in Gaza as well as Palestinian rocket fire into Israel.

  • EMHRN, the Euro-Med Human Rights Network, which has a history of pro-Palestinian positions, also issued a press release on July 4 declaring that "attacks on civilians, Palestinian and Israeli, cannot be justified by any means" thereby creating a moral equivalence between aggressor and defender. EMHRN repeated the pseudo-legal rhetoric of other NGOs, calling Israel’s actions "collective punishment" and claiming that strikes on infrastructure "cannot be classified as a legitimate military targets." EMHRN called on the EU to demand an end to Israeli military operations but failed to criticize the cross border attack which initiated the crisis. There is also no call for the release of the kidnapped soldier, although EMHRN calls for his humane treatment.

  • Al Haq, a Palestinian human rights NGO, issued a press statement on July 1 that affirmed the "Palestinians right to resist and confront the occupation" and called on "all members of Palestinian resistance movements" to act according to humanitarian law. Al Haq acknowledged the abduction of Corporal Shalit but did not call for his release. The statement demanded that "armed Palestinian activists" "avoid targeting civilians; military operations must be limited to military targets;" Al Haq makes no mention of the illegality of both the cross-border attack and the abduction of Shalit.

  • The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), a human rights NGO, based in France sent an open letter to UN Security Council members calling for UN intervention and demanding that the Israeli government end its operation in Gaza. FIDH stated that Israeli army actions "constitute at the least war crimes, if not crimes against humanity" and called Israel’s response "disproportionate" without defining what a proportionate response to Palestinian violence would be. FIDH selectively invoked a UN resolution regarding "deliberate targeting of civilians", and called on the Security Council to send an "international interposition force" to the region. FIDH did not acknowledge that the Palestinian attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing was illegal or that the abduction of Shalit also breached international law. FIDH did however call on the Palestinian Authority and the abductors to release Shalit.

  • Christian Aid issued another emotive news report on July 5 highlighting humanitarian problems of the population in Gaza but did not report on rocket attacks on Israeli towns and cities, the abduction and murder of Israeli Eliyahu Asheri or the Palestinian failure to release Corporal Shalit. The release concludes by repeating the Swiss government’s biased claim that "there was ‘no doubt’ Israel has not taken the necessary precautions required of it under international law to protect the Palestinian civilian population"; and the "Take Action" request is to "ask your MP to condemn attacks against Palestinian civilians."

  • On July 11, six Israel-based political NGOs (ACRI, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, HaMoked, B’Tselem, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Gisha (the Center for the Legal Protection of Freedom of Movement) called on the Israeli government to keep open the crossings into Gaza for essential supplies. The NGOs termed Israel’s current policies as "collective punishment" while ignoring the security threat at the Gaza crossings. The statement also did not mention the cause of the crisis or call on any Palestinian body to release Shalit. (Some of the NGOs have separately called for Shalit to be treated humanely.)