Response - Trocaire letter to the Irish Times
The Irish Times last month published a letter by the head of Trocaire which absurdly focused on attacking NGO Monitor; we attempted to exercise our right-of-reply, but after a month of back-and-forth, the newspaper’s editorial staff claimed that too much time had passed. We will be filing a formal complaint.
Here is our original response:
Apparently, Trócaire, like all powerful institutions, has little tolerance for criticism. When shown evidence of its disproportionate focus on Israel – as of December 2018, its website mentions Israel 193 times, much more than other conflict zones like Yemen (62), Saudi Arabia (26), and Myanmar (41) – the church group lashed out against a small, independent research group from Jerusalem.
Trócaire has a €75 million budget, much of which is provided by governments including Ireland’s. The bulk of its letter in these esteemed pages is devoted to innuendo and smears, but it does not and cannot challenge the numbers.
Trócaire is also silent on its devastating financial role in the conflict. It funded an NGO that published grotesque, antisemitic cartoons, and gave money to another NGO linked to an EU-designated terror organization. Trócaire is also a major supporter of the Israel boycott bill which applies a unique standard to Israel and Jewish businesses – ironically this government-funded organization lobbies the parliament that funds it.
Unfortunately, we are accustomed to seeing powerful NGOs try to salvage their damaged reputations. But, defaming NGO Monitor will not erase the stain of Trócaire’s shameful contributions to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Itai Reuveni
Director of Communications, NGO Monitor
