NGOs Attack Israel Yet Again

Once again, the financially powerful NGO's have decided to attack Israel with absolutely no reference to the actions of Hamas, an organisation that resolutely advocates the elimination of the State of Israel in its words, its culture and deeds. Israel as a victim of this strategy continues to be portrayed as the ogre.

NGOs – including Amnesty-UK, Trocaire (Ireland), Finn Church Aid, Diakonia (Sweden), Oxfam, Oxfam-NOVIB (Holland), Cordaid (Holland), Christian Aid (UK) – have issued a report “Failing Gaza: No rebuilding, no recovery, no more excuses,” to coincide with the one year anniversary of the Gaza conflict. As in numerous earlier publications on this topic, this report reflects the primacy of advocacy and the biased agendas of organizations claiming to promote “humanitarian aid”. Thus reports NGO Monitor www.ngo-monitor.org

1) The central thesis of the report -- “primary responsibility lies with Israel” to end the blockade -- repeats the unsupported legal claim that Gaza remains occupied, as well as the false allegation of “collective punishment.” As legal scholars note, Gaza cannot be considered occupied, and economic sanctions are not illegal. These tendentious claims were apparently made in order to condemn Israel and create fictitious obligations.

2) Similarly, these groups blame Israel for ongoing conflict, minimizing the clear responsibility of Hamas for mass terror, and for blatant incitement to violence.

3) The list of “high priority reconstruction materials” on page 7 fails to acknowledge the ongoing threats from Hamas, and the use of such materials for manufacturing weapons directed at Israeli. This “humanitarian” report also ignores the diversion of aid by Hamas officials and makes no reference to the fact that Egypt treats Gaza in the same way.

4) The bias and political goals of these NGO's are reflected in calls for sanctions against Israel alone: “The EU should confirm publicly that the upgrading of relations with Israel is put on hold, pending tangible progress in Israel’s respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, which should include its actions with regard to the blockade of Gaza.”

5) As in the past, this report is also totally silent regarding the continued captivity of Gilad Shalit, clearly in violation of his rights under international law.

NGO Monitor President Prof. Gerald Steinberg commented: “These NGOs are continuing to exploit moral, legal and humanitarian principles in order to promote political warfare against Israel. Many of the claims in this report are not supported by credible evidence, and reflect the double standards that are all too common. Through this systematic bias regarding Israel, these organizations have lost respectability, and the European governments that fund such attacks share responsibility for this abuse.”