On May 10-20, 2021, Palestinian terror groups in Gaza fired over 4000 rockets and mortars toward Israeli population centers – each one an unequivocal war crime. As with previous flare-ups involving Gaza, NGOs and NGO officials that claim to promote human rights have ignored the blatant Palestinian violations against Israeli civilians. Some have remained silent altogether, while others have focused exclusively on demonizing Israel for responding to the attacks or for other alleged wrongdoing.
NGO Monitor submitted an analysis to the US State Department of several key dimensions related to this issue in 2021, highlighting the extreme ideological positions and methodological failures that define NGO reporting on Israel.
On August 23, 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published its third (!) pseudo-report on the two-week armed conflict in Gaza and Israel, the latest titled “Gaza: Israel’s May Airstrikes on High-Rises.”
On July 27, 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report alleging that Israel committed war crimes in its May 2021 conflict with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. This report serves as another vehicle for HRW’s ongoing campaign lobbying the International Criminal Court.
NGO Monitor research has identified 50 incidents in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives killed in Gaza were falsely labeled by NGOs as civilian casualties, or in which civilians killed by Hamas were implicitly attributed to Israel.
Throughout the 2021 Gaza conflict, NGOs published statements accusing Israel of apartheid and war crimes and calling for arms embargo.
Schmale’s apology highlights the expectation within Palestinian society that supposedly-independent UN officials will participate in demonizing Israel, including by hiding information that portrays Israel in a positive light, as well as the capitulation by such officials to the Palestinian narrative
Political advocacy NGOs have engaged in a long-time campaign against American security assistance to Israel.
On May 27, 2021, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) convened a special session on Israel to discuss “violations” allegedly committed by Israel since April 13, 2021 relating to Sheikh Jarrah, Gaza, Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and mixed Israeli cities.
Like many misnomers about international law and Israel, distortions regarding proportional responses to aggression are central to NGO political advocacy campaigns that exploit legal rhetoric for demonization.
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