European funding for strengthening civil society should consider whether some NGO recipients may actually be contributing to shrinking civil space. At least one Palestinian organization uses control of foreign donations to enforce uniformity of thought amongst local NGOs.
On February 13, 2018, Human Rights Watch (HRW), along with Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s procedures for granting access for Gaza residents to Israel for medical treatment. The groups cite a December 2017 World Health Organization (WHO) document that claims that 54 Gazans died while awaiting approval to travel to seek medical attention in Israel or in the West Bank. The WHO paper does not provide a source for this figure.
In advance of the 37th Council session (February 26 - March 23, 2018), the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has released a report on the “BDS blacklist” of companies that do business with Israelis over the 1949 Armistice Line. The report, submitted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, provides important details on the flawed process and the difficulties inherent in creating a list of companies to be targeted by this form of BDS.
NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Al Haq, have been advocating for a discriminatory blacklist for many years to advance a BDS agenda. However, this does nothing to further human rights, and the UN should not devote further resources to this charade.
On January 23, 2018, the UN Human Rights Council reviewed Israel as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) framework. In advance of and during Israel’s review, numerous self-proclaimed human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) took to social media where they made false and exaggerated accusations – for instance, accusing Israel of war crimes.
Amnesty International-UK’s Human Rights Centre in London was originally scheduled to host a debate on January 24, between Hillel Neuer of UN Watch and Fred Carver of the UN Association, moderated by human rights attorney and Yahad board member Danny Friedman. A few days before the event (January 24), however, Amnesty-UK abruptly cancelled the event on the grounds that the organization was “currently campaigning for all governments around the world to ban the import of goods produced in the illegal Israeli settlements.
The UN Human Rights Council’s annual report for 2017 presents a full list of resolutions passed by the Council throughout the year. The disproportionate number of resolutions against Israel reflects the nearly 100 NGOs that are receiving millions of dollars from governments around the world to push anti-Israel agendas at the UN.
UNICEF spearheads a campaign to have Israel included on a UN blacklist of “grave” vio-lators of children’s rights. This political agenda is a primary facet of UNICEF’s activities relating to Israel, completely inconsistent with its mandate of “child protection” and from its guidelines for neutrality and impartiality.
In a video that has gone viral, a young Palestinian approaches two Israeli soldiers. She hits, prods and slaps them. She is trying to provoke a reaction that will be caught on camera and show the ugly violence of the Israeli army. The soldiers respond with professionalism and restraint, and ignore her attack.
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