After the escalation of the ongoing Gaza conflict last week, several political advocacy Israeli NGOs claiming to promote human rights published highly biased and politicized allegations. As in the past, these NGOs insinuate that Israel is guilty of war crimes and related violations, usually without providing any evidence or proof. Some of the statements reflect core bias and contrast with the silence when Israeli human rights are violated.
- These Israeli NGOs, including Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), B'Tselem, Gisha, Adalah, Breaking the Silence, and Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) are funded, in part, by the New Israel Fund (NIF).
- In previous conflicts, a number of NIF-funded groups played a major role in advancing false accusations of alleged Israeli crimes, contributing to demonization campaigns. As demonstrated in NGO Monitor's comprehensive research, NIF grantees were centrally involved in promoting and submitting allegations to the Goldstone Mission on the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza conflict.
- On November 15, NIF CEO Daniel Sokatch wrote that "many members of the New Israel Fund family will work to assist the most vulnerable Israeli citizens, both Jewish and Arab, who are living within range of the rocket fire." This worthy objective stands in sharp contrast to the highly politicized and prejudicial statements that have been made by some of NIF's grantees.
- As the evidence clearly shows, the NIF-based NGO network had remained silent in the weeks preceding the latest fighting, characterized by escalating indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza - each one a war crime - targeting Israeli civilians and population centers. These NGOs only acted after Israel killed Hamas terrorist commander Ahmed Jabari, on November 14, 2012.
- With the important exception of B'Tselem, none of the NIF-linked NGOs published a separate press release condemning the rocket attack that killed three Israeli civilians in Kiryat Malachi.
- Gisha (the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement) repeated the pseudo-legal reference to Israeli policy on Gaza as "collective punishment." This rhetoric ignores obvious security needs, most notably the prevention of weapons smuggling, and Israeli emphasis on targeting terrorists and sparing civilians.
- NIF-funded Adalah joined the radical Palestinian Al Mezan NGO in a statement alleging that the "Bombing of Civilian Media Building in Gaza Constitutes a Serious Violation of the Laws of War." Misstating the law as well as the facts, they neglected to note that the IDF was targeting Hamas' communications infrastructure, a legal military objective under international law.
- PHR-I's delegitimization agenda was evident in a statement claiming that "the lives of residents of Gaza and southern Israel have lost their value and have become but a tool in the cynical political arena." The group also retweeted a call encouraging Israeli soldiers to refuse orders, which was later removed from its Twitter feed. Such biased statements are inconsistent with the medical focus claimed by PHR-I.
- A joint statement signed by PCATI and a group of Palestinian and international NGOs called for an "urgent intervention" by the UN Human Rights Council, ignoring Israeli victims and focusing on "violations of international law committed in the occupied Palestinian territory." These NGOs are working with the UNHRC, dominated by the world's most abusive regimes, seeking to establish another Goldstone-like report falsely attacking Israel.
Click here for NGO Monitor's full analysis |
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