Ford Foundation Still Funding Anti-Israel Groups

From Ford Foundation Still Funding Anti-Israel Groups:

Many of the anti-Israel activists at the UN anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2001 were egged on by Ford Foundation-backed, pro-Palestinian groups. Hoping to head off a similar debacle, Ford says it will not pay for any organization to participate in the follow-up conference to Durban, slated for April in Geneva. Yet Ford today is funding several organizations that engage in the "Durban strategy" - to paint Israel as a "racist, apartheid" state and isolate the Jewish nation through boycotts, divestment and sanctions - according to a months-long JTA investigation.

A 2008-09 Ford grant for $305,000 went to the Arab NGO Network for Development, which features a map on its Web site that fails to note the existence of Israel.

Beneficiaries of Ford funds include the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Muwatin: Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy, The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and Miftah: The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy.

All these groups signed onto boycott and divestment petitions against "Apartheid Israel."

Stop Funding Demonizing NGOs

From Stop Funding Demonizing NGOs:

For many years, Israel has been attacked by non-government organizations (NGOs) that invent (or distort) the terms of international law, falsify facts, and violate the universality of human rights. Some of the NGOs promoting the demonization campaigns get more than half their annual budgets from European governments. Additional funds come from the Ford Foundation. Israeli officials should make the case for a halt in this funding of demonization in every discussion with European ambassadors, heads of state and foreign ministers.

Adalah: Abusing "Civil Rights” to Delegitimize Israel

From NGO Monitor:

Funded by the New Israel Fund, the Ford Foundation, and a number of European governments, Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel claims to be an "independent" organization that promotes "civil and political rights" for the Arab minority in Israel. However NGO Monitor's detailed analysis shows that Adalah is active in promoting the Durban strategy of demonizing Israel using the rhetoric of human rights, "apartheid" and "war crimes”. Adalah’s campaign for a “Democratic Constitution” is based on “a one-state solution”, meaning the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state.

Response to Nicolas Kristof´s op-ed "The Two Israels"

A Letter to the Editor of the New York Times, from Gerald Steinberg, Executive Director of NGO Monitor:

In his oped, Nicolas Kristof (June 22, “The Two Israels”) illustrates the danger of the “halo effect” that surrounds many powerful non-governmental organizations, which use distorted human rights claims to promote ideological agendas. While otherwise very professional journalists question and independently verify the claims of governments, corporations, and others, the statements of groups that assert moral objectives tend to be taken at face value. In this article, Kristof extols B’tselem and Machsom Watch (the women who "volunteer at checkpoints to help Palestinians through"). As documented by NGO Monitor, both are political organizations based in Israel that have appropriated human rights rhetoric for partisan goals, mix fact with fiction, and grossly distort history in order to promote their private agendas.

For example, Kristof repeats the simplistic statements of these NGOs regarding Hebron – a city of immense religious and historical importance to the Jewish people – without mentioning the impact of the 1929 massacre and expulsion of the entire Jewish community. A limited return to this historic city was only possible after 1967. Since this context is inconvenient for promoting B’tselem’s political objectives, which would mean again removing the Jewish population from Hebron, these political activists focus instead on one-sided human rights allegations in which Palestinians are always victims, and Israel is always the oppressor.

Seduced by the “halo effect”, Kristof uses B’tselem’s very narrow window to strip the wider context and sell his own interpretation of the conflict and strip it of the wider context. Following B’tselem’s lead, Kristof also ignores the human rights violations of Jewish Israelis in Hebron, including the murder of a 10 month old baby – Shalhevet Pas by a Palestinian sniper. And claims regarding the impact of Israel’s separation barrier and checkpoints completely erases the fact that hundreds or perhaps thousands of Israeli lives that have been spared by preventing the entry of suicide bombers. This is also a primary human rights issue, which the activists in B’tselem and Machsom Watch find inconvenient, and which no human rights group has documented using video cameras.

Expropriating human rights rhetoric for partisan claims, erasing the context and complexity of conflict situations, and applying human rights exclusively to one side of a conflict is morally unacceptable. Such biased approaches from NGOs have severely undermined the ethical foundations and credibility of human rights, which are by definition universal and must be applied equally.

Gerald Steinberg
Executive Director
NGO Monitor
Jerusalem, Israel

EU forces British taxpayers to fund the abolition of Israel

Did you know that the EU forces British taxpayers to fund NGOs campaigning for the abolition of Israel? The EU diplomatically supports a two state solution to the Mid East conflict based on two democratic entities which have secure borders, however, NGOs which oppose a two state solution, advocate the abolition of Israel, equate Israeli Liberal Democracy with apartheid South Africa and advocate recognition of and engagement with Hamas receive EU grants.

A report by NGO Monitor entitled “Europe’s Hidden Hand, EU Funding for Political NGOs in the Arab-Israeli Conflict" details (in as much depth as the public can access) who Brits are funding and what the groups advocate.

Its findings are pretty shocking.

UN Targets World Union for Progressive Judaism

From UN Targets World Union for Progressive Judaism:

More than 3,000 non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, are officially accredited by the UN, entitling these groups to enter UN premises, get access to meetings and decision-makers, and speak at UN bodies like the Human Rights Council. However, on Tuesday, the UN Committee on Non-governmental Organizations is poised to revoke these basic access rights from the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), which represents more than 1.7 million reform, progressive, liberal and reconstructionist Jews all over the world. The WUPJ offers a rare but tenacious voice that confronts Islamic human rights abuses at the UN at every turn.

Bureaucrats at the UN trace the problem back to a Jan. 24, 2008, session of the Human Rights Council. As the council conducted its predetermined witch hunt against Israel, WUPJ representative David Littman referred to Hamas' genocidal charter. He began three times, quoting the charter's words that "Israel will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it," and calling upon the council to invoke the Genocide Convention.

Each time, the council president interrupted and warned him to "focus on the issue." Littman stood his ground: "The issue is what Hamas and the government in Gaza wishes to do to Israel." Bang, bang, bang went the gavel. Stymied, Littman recalled his Shakespeare and said: "There is a general malaise in the air. A feeling that something is rotten in the state of this council." Those words were "disrespectful" to the Human Rights Council, the diplomats from the Muslim world declared.

Amnesty in 2007: Attacking Democracy instead of Oppression in Middle East

Promoting accountability in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Via NGO Monitor:

Summary: NGO Monitor has systematically analyzed Amnesty International’s Middle East coverage in 2007, applying a quantitative methodology, similar to that used to examine the agenda of Human Rights Watch.

The results show that in 2007 Amnesty singled out Israel for more condemnation than Syria, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Lebanon, and Algeria.

More items were published condemning Israel, than the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and Hezbollah combined. If detailed reports are used as an indicator, Amnesty ranks Israel and Iraq as equally the worst human rights abusers in the Middle East.

Israel’s democratic and open society ironically invites disproportionately negative reporting from Amnesty International. Access to information facilitates more comprehensive research than in less democratic regimes; democracy demands higher standards of human rights, according to Amnesty International’s Israel branch; external factors, such as media attention, dictate AI’s policy.

Amnesty's 2008 annual report (covering events in 2007) is yet another example of the NGO's highly biased approach. It presents a gross distortion of the conflict, selectively reports events to remove the context of terrorism and ignore human rights issues not related to its political agenda, while repeating un-sourced and anecdotal claims.

The Israeli Justice Ministry's response to Amnesty's June 2007 report, "Enduring occupation Palestinians under siege in the West Bank” stated that “Amnesty’s report is one-sided, immoral, and riddled with mistakes and numerous factual and legal inaccuracies, including scant mention of Palestinian terrorism."

Click here to read the complete report.

NGOs promote "Israeli Apartheid Week"

Islam-loving NGOs promote "Israeli Apartheid Week", where lies, fabrications, and false accusations are the order of the day. Via NGO Monitor:

War on Want, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Keshev, I'lam and ICAHD, (whose funders include the EU, Finnish and British governments, and NIF), are joining a number of extremist NGOs to promote "Israeli Apartheid week."

Israeli Apartheid week (IAW) was first held in Canada in 2004. In 2008 it encompasses events in Canada, Mexico, South Africa, the UK, the USA and the Palestinian Territories. Its stated aim, in line with the NGO declaration from the 2001 UN World Conference against Racism in Durban, is "to create a widespread awareness of Israeli apartheid and to bolster support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign." The organizers assert the "imperative of" "isolat[ing] the Israeli apartheid regime."

Despite serious critiques of such "apartheid" rhetoric, many NGOs continue to use it as a political tool to delegitimize the existence of Israel. War on Want (WoW), which is funded by the UK and Irish governments, featured in Warwick University's program. On February 7, 2008, WoW's Senior Global Justice Campaigner, Ruth Tanner spoke on "Resistance day’: ‘Resisting the occupation: should we bother?" Berkely University, exhibited an ICAHD photographic display and Linda Ramsden, Chair of ICAHD UK is a listed speaker of the UK event. Rochama Marton, founder and President of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), which receives money from the EU and Finnish Embassy among others, addressed a panel at the UK university, SOAS on February 11, 2008. On February 14, SOAS will also host a panel on "Media and Normalising Israeli Apartheid," which lists Yizhar Be’er, Executive Director of Keshev and former executive director of B’Tselem, and Haneen Zoubi, General Director of NIF and British council-funded I’lam, as speakers.

IAW's material selects and distorts facts to support its destructive political agenda, including baseless claims of "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians, the "720 km long concrete wall", and that "[t]orture is used against virtually every Palestinian arrested." The participation of NGOs, funded by governments and the NIF, which claim to promote universal human rights, in an event which distorts these values to demonize Israel, is highly troubling.

Ford Foundation: 2007 Review of Funding for Political NGOs active in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Promoting critical debate and accountability of Human Rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli conflict. From NGO-Monitor:

Summary:

• Ford-funded NGOs led the campaign against Israel at the UN World Conference Against Racism, at Durban in 2001.
• The Ford Foundation's 2007 database of direct grants does not include NGOs which exploit human rights rhetoric as part of the Durban strategy of demonizing Israel. However, Ford does not include information on indirect and continuing funding.
• NGO Monitor’s research shows that PCHR, Miftah and PHRO continued to receive Ford Foundation support in 2007.
• NGO Monitor sent numerous requests for clarification to Ford which were not answered in a substantive manner.
• Many other NGOs, which appeared on Ford's funding database in 2005 and 2006, and which promote boycotts and divestment, and selectively use human rights rhetoric to demonize Israel, continue to list Ford as a donor in 2007.
• These findings raise serious questions of Ford's transparency and its commitment to its own post-Durban guidelines. There is also a real possibility that Ford-funded NGOs will again lead the demonization of Israel at the 2009 follow-up conference to Durban.

Ford Foundation Grantees 2007 – Improvement?

In 2006, NGO Monitor reported a comparative reduction in the Ford Foundation's support for the most virulent NGOs that focus primarily on demonization of Israel under the "Durban strategy". In 2007, none of the problematic NGOs from 2006 were found in the Ford Foundation's grants database. If funding had indeed ceased, this would constitute a marked improvement in Ford's funding practices.

However, research throughout 2007 has revealed that Ford continues to support some of the most radical and politicized NGOs, despite the fact that they have not appeared in its grant database since 2005. The Ford Foundation has consistently failed to answer NGO Monitor's enquiries about multi-year grants and indirect funding not included in its database. In March and November 2007, NGO Monitor contacted the Ford Foundation repeatedly to establish whether any 2005 grant recipients continued to receive support in 2006/7. Ford failed to provide a substantive response.

Ford-funded NGOs from previous years continue to list Ford as donor

NGOs which continue to list Ford as a funding source on their websites, although these are not included in Ford's 2007 database, include

• Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) website states that the organization is funded by the Ford Foundation.
• New Israel Fund website lists the Ford Foundation as under "Special Programs and Partners". In September 2007 Ford renewed its 2003 five-year partnership with NIF, to support civil society, human rights and social justice organizations in Israel. NIF, in turns, funds Adalah, Mossawa, Machsom Watch, Arab Association of Human Rights and HaMoked, Bimkom, I'lam, and other NGOs.
• Miftah lists Ford as a donor in materials provided to NGO Monitor (see below)
• Al-Mezan lists Ford as a project donor for 2006
• Al-Haq – the 2006 Annual Report lists a $100,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, $50,000 of which had not been spent by the end of 2006.
• Palestinian Human Rights Organization (PHRO) lists Ford as a donor in its 2006 Annual Report
  Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC) (On JLAC's list of "Partners 2000-2007" "Ford Foundation, Cairo Office" is listed)
• Interpeace website states that the organization is funded by the Ford Foundation.
• Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) lists Ford as a funding source
• Human Rights Watch still lists the Ford Foundation as a donor of "$100,000 or more" among the organization's "Supporters of General and Endowment Funds – April 2005 – March 2006".
• International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) states that it is supported by the Ford Foundation
• Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA) – continues to list Ford as a funding source for "Training and Education in International Affairs" on its website
• Ir Amim continues to list Ford as a supporter on its website

All of these NGOs were contacted[1] in November and December 2007, and asked whether the Ford Foundation remains an active donor. Only PCHR, Miftah, PHRO, Save the Children – UK and HRW responded.

PCHR

PCHR has not appeared in Ford's grant database since 2005. In an email of October 31, 2007 PCHR Director Raji Sourani confirmed that the website was indeed up to date, including the sections on funding. As NGO Monitor has reported, "while PCHR does an important job of describing intra-Palestinian human rights abuses, it is blatantly one-sided in its removal of the context of terror and disregard of human rights abuses committed against Israeli civilians. PCHR also supports 'all the efforts aimed at enabling the Palestinian people to exercise its inalienable rights in regard to self-determination and independence,' including calls for political, economic, and academic boycotts against Israel."

MIFTAH

Miftah has not appeared in Ford's grant database since 2005. Miftah's administrative and financial director Rula Muzaffar attached a list of Miftah's donors for the year 2007 to his email of October 30, 2007. [link to attached excel file] The Ford Foundation appears as a donor for the period March 2003-February 2007, supporting three different projects/activities:

Institutional Support and Policy Formulation.

Empowerment of Women in Negotiations.
Enhancing Accountability in the Public Sector.

Miftah is a political lobbying group which claims to increase "global awareness and knowledge of Palestinian realities by providing policy analysis, strategic briefings and position papers." However, despite claiming to be politically independent, Miftah uses Durban strategy rhetoric, characterizes terrorists as "activists" and "freedom fighters," and promotes highly politicized campaigns that do not contribute to peace. An op-ed on the Miftah website (August 2, 2006) claimed that Israel was deliberately targeting Lebanese civilians. The author wrote that Lebanese civilian deaths "are part of a systematic policy carried out by the Israeli military establishment, approved by the highest political echelons, aimed at squashing, silencing and obliterating any voice of rebellion, anyone who dares stand up to the beast." Miftah has also described suicide bombings against civilians as "resistance." An article of July 5, 2006 about Palestinian women during the last six years of violence stated that "several young women also decided to join the ranks of the resistance movement", went on to describe the first Palestinian female suicide bombing and commented that "this marked the beginning of a string of Palestinian women dedicated to sacrificing their lives for the cause."

Palestinian Human Rights Organization

PHRO was listed in Ford's 2006 grant database, but not in the 2007 list. General Director Assistant Rola Badran responded to NGO Monitor’s inquiry that all the details requested were available in the following link: PHRO's Annual Report 2006 (page 48). The Ford Foundation is listed as contributing $74,972.00 to support PHRO's strategy at the end of September 2006.

PHRO is a member of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and La Fédération Internationale des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH) (also listed as supported by the Ford Foundation), both heavily involved in the demonization of Israel. PHRO also participated in the 2001 Durban Conference and continues to promote the NGO strategy adopted there, including accusing Israel of "apartheid and ethnic cleansing," as well as "perpetration of racist crimes against humanity including… acts of genocide," and calls for "complete and total isolation of Israel."

In July 2006, PHRO issued a report titled, "Lebanon Crisis… Israel Severe Breaches to the International Law". This report was prepared "in light of Israel's assault on Lebanon" and describes "genocide in Qana" and "Israel's actions in Killing Civilians, imposing a Siege on Lebanon, Disproportionate Use of Forces, Using Prohibited Weapons in addition to Collective Punishment."

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

HRW featured in Ford's list of 2006 grantees, as receiving a restricted $300,000 grant for an HIV/AIDS program and a $60,000 grant for a full-time researcher in Brazil. Yet HRW still lists the Ford Foundation as a donor of "$100,000 or more" among the organization's "Supporters of General and Endowment Funds – April 2005 – March 2006". In response to NGO Monitor's request for clarification Helen Raynsford from HRW UK replied that "the information that you have asked for is confidential."

Save the Children – UK

The Save the Children Fund received two grants from the Ford Foundation in 2006: $50,000 to support the prospective Save the Children China Foundation, and $200,000 was given to Save the Children to fund human rights education in Egypt, Lebanon, and Morocco. Save the Children no longer list Ford as a donor, and Customer Service Advisor Ellie Mcleod (Individual Giving) said she could not offer a response to our enquiry due to "the number of similar requests that we receive and our limited resources." In the past, this organization has promoted the Palestinian version of the conflict in material designed for teachers.

The New Israel Fund (NIF)

As noted in NGO Monitor's 2006 report, following intense criticism of its role in funding NGOs involved in the 2001 Durban NGO Forum, the Ford Foundation announced a five-year partnership with NIF. This entailed a $20 million grant to establish a new peace and social justice fund. In September 2007, the Ford Foundation announced a second $20 million grant to extend this partnership for an additional five years. The Ford Foundation is mentioned on NIF's website under "Special Programs and Partners". However, NIF is not included in Ford's 2007 grants database.

Conclusion

The Ford Foundation released guidelines after the 2001 Durban conference which declare that it will not fund NGOS that " promote or engage in violence, terrorism, bigotry or the destruction of any state, nor will it make sub-grants to any entity that engages in these activities." This prohibition is applicable to all of the organization's activities, and not merely those supported by a direct grant from Ford.

The evidence presented in this update shows that changes in Ford's grant database in 2006 and 2007 do not fully reflect implementation of the post-Durban changes in funding policy, and raise questions about Ford's commitment to transparency. PCHR, Miftah and PHRO selectively apply human rights terminology to demonize Israel, and actively promote the Durban Strategy, including boycotts and divestment.

Ford stated objectives are to "strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement." But the continued funding of these and possibly other groups not listed in the data base for 2007 contradicts these goals, as well as the commitments made after Durban 2001. In this context, there is a very real possibility that Ford-funded NGOs will again lead the demonization of Israel at the 2009 Durban follow-up conference.---

[1] NGO Monitor asked the following NGOs about their donors in 2007:

PCHR, Al-Haq, Miftah, Al-Mezan, PHRO, DWRC, JLAC, Muwatin, Interpeace, PANORAMA, Save the Children – UK (SCF), HRW, ICJ, FIDH, PASSIA, Ir Amim.

Only PCHR, Miftah and PHRO were helpful in supplying relevant information. Save the Children – UK (SCF) and HRW replied that they did not have resources to reply.

The rest of the NGOs, as well as the EMHRN, failed to respond.

What is the Muslim World League (MWL) ?

From Discover the Networks:

• Islamic NGO based in Saudi Arabia that advances Wahhabi extremism
• Organization's Pakistan office employed al Qaeda operatives
• Oversaw Rabita Trust, a charity that knowingly funded terrorist groups
• Oversees the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, which teaches religious hatred to Islamic children
• Enjoys observer status in the United Nations

Founded in 1962 by Islamic representatives from 22 countries, the Muslim World League (MWL), also called Rabita, is an Islamic non-governmental organization based in Saudi Arabia and controlled and funded by the Saudi government. Its objectives are "to disseminate Islamic Dawah and expound the teachings of Islam," and "to defend Islamic causes in a manner that safeguards the interests and aspirations of Muslims, solves their problems, refutes false allegations against Islam, and repels inimical trends and dogma which the enemies of Islam seek to exploit in order to destroy the unity of Muslims and to sow seeds of doubt in our Muslim brethren." All MWL leaders are of Saudi descent, and the organization's current Secretary General is Dr. Abdullah Al-Turki.

MWL promotes Wahhabism, the extremist form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia. In the 1980s, the League's Pakistan office was run by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood and brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden. Khalifa was the co-founder of the Benevolence International Foundation and he helped to finance Operation Bojinka, a foiled 1995 plot that would have simultaneously detonated bombs aboard eleven U.S.-bound airliners, blowing them up in mid-flight over the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea.

In addition, two members of an al Qaeda sleeper cell based in Boston worked at MWL's Pakistan office. One worker, Nabil al-Marabh, number 27 on the FBI's list of wanted terrorists, was arrested by federal agents in Detroit shortly after 9/11; it was reported that he "intended to martyr himself in an attack against the United States." The other operative, Raed Hijazi, was apprehended and tried in Jordan on charges that he planned to blow up a hotel filled with Americans and Israelis on New Year's Eve in 2000.

In his book The Two Faces of Islam, Stephen Schwartz reports: "In 2000, the Muslim World League (a provider of funds to Osama bin Laden) hosted 100 prominent American Islamic personalities on hajj [a pilgrimmage to Mecca]. They were accompanied by a delegation of 60 Latin American 'academics and specialists.' All expenses for the latter were paid by Prince Bandar, Saudi ambassador to the United States."

MWL at one time oversaw Rabita Trust, a now-defunct charity whose professed purpose was to give aid to Afghani refugees in Pakistan. The Trust came under investigation by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee based on evidence that it had knowingly funded terrorist groups. Today MWL oversees the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), one of the vehicles through which the Saudi government finances Islamic extremism and international terrorism.

In January 2006, MWL called for United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to denounce a derisive cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed that had recently appeared in Danish and Norwegian newspapers. A letter sent by MWL Secretary General Al-Turki to Annan noted that Muslims around the world were offended by the cartoon and that international laws "prohibited scorning religions and other hatred-provoking practices."

MWL is an observer member of the Organization of Islamic Conferences, an inter-governmental coalition dedicated to "liberating Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa from Zionist occupation." MWL also has "Category A" observer status in the United Nations, and consultative status in the UN Economic and Social Council. Moreover, MWL is a member of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). The League is also a founding member of the International Supreme Council for Dawah and Relief, an Islamic recruiting center based in Cairo.

NGO Durban II Update: Statement Challenges NGOs to Reject Hatred

NGO Monitor’s call on NGOs and their funders to adopt clear guidelines for the 2009 “Durban” Conference is having an impact. From NGO Monitor:

NGO Monitor’s call on NGOs and their funders to adopt clear guidelines for the 2009 “Durban” Conference is having an impact. Magenta, based in Holland, in cooperation with the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, published a "Statement of Core Principles for WCAR [UN World Conference against Racism] Follow up." This document expresses the need for a corrective movement to reverse the damage of the disastrous Durban I conference in 2001, and to restore the universality of human rights.

As documented by NGO Monitor, in preparing for the conference scheduled for 2009, the statement recalls that many of the participants in the NGO Forum of the 2001 Durban conference were responsible for:

"violations of procedure in the preparatory and drafting processes, … racist treatment including violence, exclusion and intimidation against Jewish participants, and the misuse of human rights terminology in the document related to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict."

Signatories to this Statement currently include Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR), which recently participated in NGO Monitor’s December 2007 Conference, devoted to the lessons of Durban, Human Rights First, and UN Watch. These and other prominent NGOs pledged to "reject hatred and incitement in all its forms, including anti-Semitism, to learn from the shortcomings of the 2001 WCAR, and to work together in a sprit of mutual respect."

This activity marks an important first step in preparing for the NGO Forum at the planned "Durban 2009 follow-on conference", and reflects the emphasis that NGO Monitor has placed on the need for strong statements and commitments by NGOs and their major funders, including the European Union, individual government aid agencies, and the Ford Foundation.

In reporting on this statement, (January 10, 2008), the Jerusalem Post quotes Rabbi Arik Ascherman of RHR: "We're not trying to protect Israel from being criticized, but as people who are really concerned with human rights and racism, and think it is important that there be a body among the community of nations dealing with these things, we don't want to see another hijacking."

Prof. Gerald Steinberg, head of NGO Monitor, noted in the Jerusalem Post article:

"There is a learning process taking place. Rabbis for Human Rights are among the first of the NGOs who were too quiet before and during 2001, to have expressed a clear position that seeks to avoid a repetition of that disaster." At NGO Monitor, "we believe there are also some people at Amnesty Israel who understand the importance [of this] and they need to make those concerns public, and we would expect that B'tselem and other groups who claim a human rights mandate
would take a leading position along with RHR."

In the coming weeks and months, NGO Monitor will be contacting officials, members, and funders of NGOs, particularly those involved in the 2001 NGO Forum at Durban, to discuss and ascertain their positions regarding participation and guidelines for the 2009 conference. The results of this research will be published as available by NGO Monitor.

Additional reports and analysis on preparations for the 2009 Durban follow-up conference, click here to see.

60 Years Ago Today: UN Votes for Jewish and Arab States

Excerpted from UN Watch:

Sixty years ago today, on November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to created two states, one Arab and one Jewish, out of the former British mandate of Palestine. The world body played an integral role in fashioning the original two-state solution that the international community so desperately seeks today.

It is odd, then, that not only did the UN today decline to celebrate this proud moment, but it actually held rites of mourning—somber ceremonies around the globe, pursuant to Arab-sponsored resolutions, commemorating the annual “Palestinian Solidarity Day” with carefully screened speakers who, one after another, mercilessly slammed the Jewish state.

Today in Geneva, for example, the opening statement by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, read by a representative, lamented the “indignities and violence of occupation and conflict that Palestinians continue to suffer.” His message did mention that Israelis have died, too, but overwhelmingly pointed the finger at the Jewish state. The chairman of the “Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People,” Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka, accused Israel of committing “collective punishment” in Gaza. The Arab League’s Saad Alfarargi denounced the “ruthless daily attacks by Israel,” its “oppressive policies,” and its “apartheid wall.”

Remarkably, the next to join the jackals was a representative of World Vision—a major organization partly funded by the U.S. government (and which last year received $944 million from Americans), and whose mandate speaks of “relief and development,” not overt political activity. The speech by Thomas Getman, the organization’s Geneva-based international relations director, said not a thing about Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror attacks and their calls to destroy Israel, granting the terror groups effective immunity.

Instead, Mr. Getman sought to promote hatred of Israel among the assembled delegates, so innocently inviting them to “think about the first child that each of us saw in a terrible situation because of the Israeli occupation.” Conveniently left out of this picture were the Israeli pre-schoolers and other children who are attacked daily by Palestinian Kassam rockets--and the men that launch them. (Mr. Getman’s extremist political activity, conflicting with World Vision’s humanitarian mandate, is nothing new; in 2006, when the representative of a human rights NGO was cut short during a UN debate by Syrian objections—Damascus had demanded a special agenda item on “occupation,” but sought to censor any suggestion that this might include its own occupation of Lebanon—Mr. Getman shouted at the NGO representative, and published an open letter siding with Syria.)

So much for how the UN honored the 60th anniversary of one of its most famous resolutions.

That the only ones holding celebrations today were Jewish groups is, some might argue, hardly surprising. After all, back in November 1947, it was the Jews who, from Tel Aviv to Buenos Aires, danced and cried tears of joy when the international community voted to recognize the revival of a Jewish homeland. After 2,000 years of exile—and two years after the Nazi Holocaust that murdered one third of the Jewish people—genuine self-determination, even if only on a truncated portion of the original League of Nations mandate, was a dream come true.

(This video powerfully conveys the sense of drama and exhilaration among Jews worldwide, whose ears were glued to radio sets as each country vote was announced.)

And it was the Arabs who immediately rejected the UN vote—“My country will never recognize such a decision,” said Syria, echoing its peers—and initiated bloody riots the very next day. These were followed with the opening of hostilities against Palestine’s Jewish community by irregular forces, and then, after the British left on May 14, 1948, with the full invasion of Israel by the armies of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and Iraq.

So is it any wonder that it was once again only the Jews who, in several communities around the world, were today celebrating?

By treating this day as a catastrophe, both the Arab states and the UN undermine their stated commitment to the two-state solution. Until November 29, 1947 becomes a day of UN celebration, the organization effectively encourages today’s call by Hamas for the cancellation of resolution 181.

Fighting in Lebanon Downplayed by Islam-loving NGOs

NGOs have largely remained silent regarding the intense fighting between the Lebanese Army and the Palestinian terror faction Fatah al-Islam in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Northern Lebanon. This silence stands in sharp contrast to the frequent condemnation of Israeli anti-terror operations, such as in Jenin during the IDF's Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.

This report will examine the responses of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Christian Aid (UK) to the fighting in Northern Lebanon and compare these with statements regarding Israel in the case of Jenin.

To read the full report, click here.

Scrutinize Amnesty International

Like the fraudulent Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International (AI) believes that Ahmadinejad can be reasoned with, although both of the biased organizations executive directors are, as As John Perazzo describes, "HRW believes that Ahmadinejad can be reasoned with. Ms. Whitson seems unaware Ahmadinejad has repeatedly, unabashedly characterized Israel as a loathsome "tumor" whose civilians and non-civilians alike "must be wiped off the map" of the planet earth." Amnesty International is a fraud. Behind the executives and their staff at AI lies their lust for power, and, only they know how powerful they feel when they write fraudulent charges which denigrate Israel just so that they can validate their own puny existence. The joke is on them, however. After the bombs fall, Israel and Jews will still be here.

Where will you be, Amnesty International, you Jew-hating panderers? From Scrutinize Amnesty International:

The halo that surrounds Amnesty International reports and campaigns is beginning to fray, as the evidence of political bias and inaccuracy mounts. Recently, the Economist, published in Britain, noted that "an organization which devotes more pages in its annual report to human-rights abuses in Britain and America than those in Belarus and Saudi Arabia cannot expect to escape doubters' scrutiny." In 2006, Amnesty singled out Israel for condemnation of human rights to a far greater extent than Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, and other chronic abusers of human rights.

Israeli NGO's B´tselem and HaMoked lack credibility

More on the traitorous Israeli NGOs, B’tselem and HaMoked. From NGO-Monitor:

On May 6, 2007, Israeli NGOs B’tselem and HaMoked released a lengthy report claiming that the Israel Security Agency continues to torture security detainees in violation of a 1999 High Court decision. (NGO Monitor has documented the activities and credibility problems in previous reports published by these politicized NGOs, whose many donors include European governments and the New Israel Fund.)

In response to the report, the Israeli Ministry of Justice (MOJ) issued a nine page letter (Hebrew, English) detailing the questionable methodology and lack of verifiable sources. The letter notes that the report is “fraught with mistakes, groundless claims and inaccuracies.” This public rebuttal reflects an important development in Israeli government policy with respect to such politicized NGO reports.

Excerpts:

“The report was based upon a non-representative sample that seems to have been deliberately chosen which distorts the reality prevailing in the course of arrest and interrogation of security prisoners.”

The report “includes description of cases with no identifying details and without allowing the relevant authorities . . . to review those specific cases.” Such failure “effectively denies the authorities the opportunity to examine the claims raised in the report.”

“Every case of deviation from the rules of conduct . . . is examined and treated . . . additional information about the cases mentioned in the report would have allowed the IDF to check each such individual case.”

The report includes “bizarre claims” such as that the Israel Security Agency “design[s] the appearance” of food given to detainees “to create disgust and deterrence.”

“The report itself refers to a group which is named in the report as ‘ordinary’ detainees, concerning interogatees which were arrested between 13 -17 of July 2005 when on the day of July 12, 2005, there was a terrorist attack in the city of Netanya, that caused the death of five people and the injury of many others . . . as a result of the interrogations, the perpetrators of the attack . . . were exposed. In addition, more terrorist units were exposed and weapons that were to be put to use in future terrorist attacks were handed over.”

Contrary to claims in the report, “the opening of criminal investigation files against soldiers . . .is not subject to the Military Attorney General’s pre-affirmation. Military police investigation files are frequently opened immediately upon complaints’ submission.” Moreover, severe punishments are meted out to soldiers who engage in unjustified violence. For example, a soldier convicted of beating a detainee was given a seven month prison sentence.

To read the MOJ’s letter in full, click for English, Hebrew.

See also:

Dan Izenberg, “’Shin Bet interrogation methods illegal’,” Jerusalem Post, May 6, 2007

Nir Hasson, “Rights Groups: Shin Bet Torturing Jailed Palestinians,” Haaretz, May 6, 2007

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What is the Muslim World League?

-Islamic NGO based in Saudi Arabia that advances Wahabi extremism
-Organization’s Pakistan office employed al Qaeda operatives
-Oversaw Rabita Trust, a charity that knowingly funded terrorist groups
-Oversees the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, which teaches religious hatred to Islamic children
-Enjoys observer status in the United Nations

Founded in 1962 by Islamic representatives from 22 countries, the Muslim World League (MWL), also called Rabita, is an Islamic non-governmental organization based in Saudi Arabia and controlled and funded by the Saudi government. Its objectives are “to disseminate Islamic Dawah and expound the teachings of Islam,” and “to defend Islamic causes in a manner that safeguards the interests and aspirations of Muslims, solves their problems, refutes false allegations against Islam, and repels inimical trends and dogma which the enemies of Islam seek to exploit in order to destroy the unity of Muslims and to sow seeds of doubt in our Muslim brethren.” All MWL leaders are of Saudi descent, and the organization's current Secretary General is Dr. Abdullah Al-Turki.

MWL promotes Wahhabism, the extremist form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia. In the 1980s, the League's Pakistan office was run by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood and brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden. Khalifa was the co-founder of the Benevolence International Foundation and he helped to finance Operation Bojinka, a foiled 1995 plot that would have simultaneously detonated bombs aboard eleven U.S.-bound airliners, blowing them up in mid-flight over the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea.

In addition, two members of an al Qaeda sleeper cell based in Boston worked at MWL’s Pakistan office. One worker, Nabil al-Marabh, number 27 on the FBI's list of wanted terrorists, was arrested by federal agents in Detroit shortly after 9/11; it was reported that he “intended to martyr himself in an attack against the United States.” The other operative, Raed Hijazi, was apprehended and tried in Jordan on charges that he planned to blow up a hotel filled with Americans and Israelis on New Year’s Eve in 2000.

In his book The Two Faces of Islam, Stephen Schwartz reports: "In 2000, the Muslim World League (a provider of funds to Osama bin Laden) hosted 100 prominent American Islamic personalities on hajj [a pilgrimmage to Mecca]. They were accompanied by a delegation of 60 Latin American 'academics and specialists.' All expenses for the latter were paid by Prince Bandar, Saudi ambassador to the United States."

MWL at one time oversaw Rabita Trust, a now-defunct charity whose professed purpose was to give aid to Afghani refugees in Pakistan. The Trust came under investigation by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee based on evidence that it had knowingly funded terrorist groups.

Today MWL oversees the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), one of the vehicles through which the Saudi government finances Islamic extremism and international terrorism.

In January 2006, MWL called for United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to denounce a derisive cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed that had recently appeared in Danish and Norwegian newspapers. A letter sent by MWL Secretary General Al-Turki to Annan noted that Muslims around the world were offended by the cartoon and that international laws “prohibited scorning religions and other hatred-provoking practices.”

MWL is an observer member of the Organization of Islamic Conferences, an inter-governmental coalition dedicated to “liberating Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa from Zionist occupation.” MWL also has “Category A” observer status in the United Nations, and consultative status in the UN Economic and Social Council. Moreover, MWL is a member of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). The League is also a founding member of the International Supreme Council for Dawah and Relief, an Islamic recruiting center based in Cairo.

Source: Discover The Networks

NGO Monitor: Politics or Altruism: An Analysis of Palestinian Children's NGO's

Omri wants us to get our snark back on. Count me in, Omri, I'm on it. To my Jewish readers, I don't know if you shared the same experience yesterday during your Yom Kippor synagogue services, but my rabbi pointed out to our congregation how important it is to do tzedakeh. Tzedakeh is Righteousness manifested through charitable donations. Tzedakeh is a rabbinical and Biblical commandment to give to charity. My Christian friends are already ordained with this mission and I know that based on the several dozen Christian services I have attended in my lifetime. Jeff Jacoby tells us that our sages teach us that God Himself is the original model of kindness

He clothed Adam and Eve when they were naked, visited Abraham when he was sick, comforted Isaac in his grief, buried Moses after he died. We, who are commanded to follow in God's ways (Deuteronomy 13:5), must likewise clothe the naked, visit the sick, comfort the bereaved, bury the dead. We pray on Rosh Hashana - and Yom Kippor - for God to treat us with charity and kindness -- asei imanu tzedaka va'chesed -- not randomly but daily, not on a whim but constantly. Hashem wants the same from us. "For I desire kindness, not sacrifices," said the prophet Hosea 2,700 years ago. Our rabbis teach us to understand how important Tzedaka is for the world, and knowing this, it would only make you want to give more.

But I implore both my Jewish and Christian friends, I beg you to consider who you give charity to. Not all charities deserve your hard-earned dollar. Here's an important article with several good reasons why you should always review the charity prior to giving a donation. From NGO Monitor:

Although numerous NGO's (Non Governmental Organization) dedicated to assisting Palestinian children claim to be apolitical, few actually meet this criterion. Indeed, the purported political neutrality of Palestinian children's NGO's is often tainted by their sources of funding, the dissemination of virulent anti-Israel propaganda and the controversial activities of their staff.

Palestinian Children's Welfare Fund (PCWF), an NGO "whose goals are to improve the living standards of the children of Palestine," provides a classic example of the blatant politicization of certain Palestinian children's NGO's.

The PCWF mission statement proclaims "the group is a non-political, non-religious enterprise whose aspirations are purely humanitarian." Yet, the children's charity recently held a drawing contest for young children entitled, Why I love Palestine. The judged rewarded, almost without exception, entries that featured disturbing and vehement anti-Israel themes.

The PCWF website also promotes a call for papers and encourages the recruitment of volunteers to the "First National Convention of American Jews for a Free Palestine." According to the PCWF, "Members of the steering committee are academics, professionals, political and social activists who intend to form a national committee to confront AIPAC and its monopoly in the media over the representation of the Jewish community in the United States."

In addition, the PCWF website prominently features the political and violently charged lyrics of a song entitled "Olive Tree", performed by the Iron Sheikh, a Palestinian rapper. In his song, the Iron Sheikh declares that, "Trouble began before 1948, when Zionists founded the Israeli state." The Palestinian rapper also accuses of Israel of practicing "apartheid," and graphically describes how he would like to physically assault Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Clearly, the promotion of the above-mentioned convention, contest and musical lyrics are inconsistent with the PCWF's apolitical mission statement, and casts a negative pall over legitimate humanitarian activities carried out by the organization.

Similarly, a virulent anti-Israel political agenda overshadows the important humanitarian services offered by the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), "established in 1991 by concerned people in the U.S. to address the medical and humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian youths in the Middle East." While the PCRF mission statement declares the NGO to be "a registered non-political organization," it is headed by journalist Stephen Sosebee who, in an article published in the Akron Beacon, urged the Bush administration to "pressure Prime Minister Ariel Sharon" to accede to the Saudi peace plan. Sosebee also speaks extensively at universities and other political "solidarity meetings" where he expounds on classic anti-Semitic, anti-Israel statements. During a lecture at the Zayed International Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up (ZCCF), Sosebee charged that a "Zionist lobby and Zionist influence" manipulated the U.S. government, its citizens and media.

In addition, the PCRF received assistance from The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, Global Relief Foundation, and The International [Islamic] Relief Organization - all of which were closed down by the U.S. government for funding terrorist groups.

In sharp contrast to the PCRF and PCWF, Zeina, a Jerusalem based Palestinian NGO established to aid children suffering from cancer, can be described as a truly humanitarian and apolitical organization. According to its website, Zeina was "founded in mid-2001 by a group of parents of children inflicted with cancer, who were undergoing therapy at Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital." The organization is "concerned with providing psychological and emotional support to the children suffering from cancer and their families. The center aims at helping and counseling their families to face the disease and its side effects and to help ease its effects and to overcome it."

Although Zeina was only founded in 2001, it has already obtained an operation registration from the Israeli Ministry of Interior as a Jerusalem based charitable society, "developed a professional relationship with Hadassah Ein Karem and Sha'reh Tzedek Hospitals," and received "a grant from the French Consulate General in Jerusalem, to fund for the set up of a new center infrastructure, and to cover expenses for practical activities and counseling."

Unlike the PCRF and PCWF, the staff at Zeina has chosen to form a positive relationship with their Israeli counterparts. Rather than engage in counter-productive anti-Israel propaganda via questionable contests, hateful music, and vehement diatribes, the Zeina website offers only a summary of their apolitical accomplishments and goals.

While it may be difficult for Palestinian children's NGO's to maintain neutrality in a politically charged environment, Zeina has illustrated that such conduct is possible.

The PCRF and the PCWF would do well to follow Zeina's example. Advancing a partisan and ideological cause under the guise of children's education and medical care only contributes to the cycle of hatred dominating the Middle East.

NGOs are autonomous, non-profit, and politically unaffiliated organizations that advance a particular cause or set of causes in the public interest. The range of causes on which an NGO can focus is unlimited, but a cardinal principle is that the NGO must operate in a manner consistent with the objectives for which it receives funds. Donations are the lifeline of NGOs, because they are independent organizations. Funding can come from governments, the United Nations, private trusts and philanthropies, individual donors, religious institutions, and, in many cases, other NGOs. NGOs can contribute to democracy by challenging governments and promoting social interests, but they themselves are not democratic institutions and have no democratic accountability. An NGO is only accountable to its particular funding organizations and members.

Still unsure of what I mean? Check out these NGO sites. Some of them will make your skin crawl:

Adalah
Advocacy Project
Al-Dameer
Al-Haq
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights
Alternatives
American Near East Refugee Aid
Amnesty International
Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem
Arab Association for Human Rights
Ard el Atfal
Ard el Insan
Asia Society
Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced (ADRID)
Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
Betselem (B'tselem)
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Caritas Internationalis
Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine (CPAP)
Christian Aid
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)
Defense for Children International/Palestine Section
Department for International Development

Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
European Union
Free the Children
Grassroots International
Habitat International Coalition
HaMoked -- Center for the Defense of the Individual
Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute
Hebron Restoration Committee
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
I'lam
International Association of Democratic Lawyers
International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
International Crisis Group (ICG)
International Development Exchange
International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH)
International Institute for Peace
International Progress Organization
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
Ittijah
Jerusalem Media and Communications Center
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives

LAW
Machsom Watch
MADRE
Medecins du Monde
Medecins Sans Frontieres
Medical Aid for Palestinians
Mennonite Central Committee
Mercy Corps
Middle East NGOs Gateway Project (MENGOS)
MIFTAH
New Israel Fund
Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America
Oxfam International
Palestine Children's Relief Fund
Palestine Children's Welfare Fund
Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International affairs (PASSIA)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)
Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON)
Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)
Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation (PYALARA)
Partners For Peace
Physicians for Human Rights - Israel
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center
Save the Children Fund

Swedish International Development Corporation Agency (SIDA)
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Ta'ayush
Terre des Hommes
Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR)
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
United Nations World Conference Against Racism (UNWCR)
War on Want
World Bank Palestinian NGO Project
World Organization Against Torture
World Vision International (WVI)

NGO's, like the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Ford Foundation, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) New Israel Fund, Miftah, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR-I), LAW, Christian Aid, and the Advocacy Project each collect funds for a variety of projects and areas from generous donors, philanthropic institutions, and government budgets, but they themselves are not democratic institutions and have no democratic accountability. An NGO is only accountable to its particular funding organizations and members.

Remember: These self-declared 'humanitarian NGOs' promote politically and ideologically motivated anti-Israel agendas and they lend a false credibility to the notion that Palestine is even a real nation. Don't be scammed.

Use discretion when donating to specious charities

From David Bedein of www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com:

Another development - the New Israel Fund is raising funds for Arab towns, with the specious claim that they were the only ones without appropriate shelter facilities, without noting that the Arab villages, like ALL Israeli towns, were ill prepared and without appropriate shelters -despite six years of warnings that were ignored.

The greatest lie of all concerns the issue of the air raid siren systems. The NIF is spreading the word that the Arab villages do not have the sirens. An investigation by Ronny Sofer, correspondent for YNetNews.com, documented how Nazareth and some of other Arab villages had demanded to be cut off from the Israel siren system, because they did not like being bothered on Israel Memorial Day and Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The bottom line: Discretion is the better part of valor. This will be a time to give with your hearts and with your heads...to make sure that the people in need really get the help that they deserve. Thousands of people in Israel are bereft, and the system in place cannot help them. Funds must go directly to their needs, with full accountability.