Dirty little secret

NGOs are non-governmental organizations that have become more and more
important in the current era of emphasis on human rights and governmental
transparency. Some NGOs are well known and play important roles in
relation to supragovernmental organizations, such as the EU and UN. For
example, there is Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International
(AI). Then there are also more politically active NGOs, such as the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM), that recruits students on
campuses in the West and sends them to participate in anti-Israel
demonstrations in Israel. Also the plethora of such organizations
include B'tselem, 'the Israel Committee against house demolitions'
and 'Machsom (checkpoint)watch.'
Since most of these NGOs are left-oriented, as they take the cause
of the downtrodden and powerless, it is not surprising that they also
tend to be anti-Israel. What is surprising is the extent to which they
are prepared to go to undermine the Jewish State and act against it in
all possible spheres. In doing so they take an institutional pro-
Palestinian position that has them going to great lengths to carry out
propaganda and collect funds in order to support their organized campaign
against Israel.
An example came to light as reported on the front page of the Jerusalem
Post on Thursday, entitled "British official boasts: we finance projects
aimed at halting settlement activity." In an interview on Al-Arabiya TV
British spokesman Martin Day stated openly that the British Government
was taking "practical steps towards freezing settlement activities,"
referring of course to the policy of trying to persuade the current
Israeli Government to freeze all building on the West Bank. He also said
specifically that they "finance organizations that monitor settlement
activities." No doubt in revealing this he hoped to obtain the sympathy
of his Arab audience and curry favor with their Governments.
But, wait a minute, these organizations are supposed to be NGOs, non-
governemntal organizations. So now the dirty little secret is out,
certain governments are using NGOs, supporting them financially and
influencing their activities, as an extension of their own policies.
Furthermore, leaders of HRW visited Saudi Arabia – one of the major
violators of the norms that HRW claims to promote – to raise funds for
the organization. HRW’s anti-Israel activities were stated as the major
reason for holding this Saudi fundraiser.
Left-wing Israeli NGOs also receive funding from foreign NGOs and
governmental sources. For example, the group "Breaking the silence" that
purported to be giving information about IDF human rights abuses during
Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, is funded by the European Union (€43,514),
the British government (NIS 226,589), the US New Israel Fund (NIF --
$68,833 in 2008), the Netherlands (€19,999), the Spanish government
(€80,000 in 2009), Oxfam, Christian Aid, the Moriah Fund, ICCO (Dutch
church group) and SIVMO (Dutch). According to reports in Ha’aretz, the
Dutch government “will reevaluate its funding” of this NGO.
So anyone who believes that these groups are motivated by purely
humanitarian aims is incredibly naieve. To obtain more information about
these nefarious organized efforts against Israel go to the web-site of
NGO Monitor (www.ngo-monitor.org) and also check out the 50-page report
published by them entitled "Europe's hidden hand: EU funding for
political NGOs in the Arab-Israel conflict," written by Gerald
Steinberg. These revelations must be exposed and opposed.
The main headline in Friday's JP is "Israel aims to outlaw foreign gov't
funding for local NGOs that 'delegitimize the state.'"