June 24th, 2009 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: Amnesty International, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) In an article published in the Guardian (“Doctors demand Yoram Blachar resign as ethics chief over Israeli torture,” June 21, 2009), health editor Sarah Boseley publicized a campaign to remove an Israeli doctor as the head of the World Medical Association. Dr. Blachar, also the head of the Israeli Medical Association, is accused of “turn[ing] a blind eye to the involvement of [Israeli] medical staff in torture.” Aside from the extremely prejudicial and offensive nature of the effort, based primarily on Blachar’s status as an Israeli and as the head of an Israeli institution, the allegations are rooted in the baseless and out-dated reports of Amnesty International and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI). Their claims ...

Leave a Comment »

June 24th, 2009 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: Boycott / Divestment, Durban Conference, Durban Review Conference Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), a Canadian NGO, reportedly joined the BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) movement against Israel earlier this month. A central element of the "Durban Strategy," BDS seeks to internationally isolate Israel as a "racist" and "apartheid" state. IJV was active in their objection to the Canadian boycott of the Durban II conference. IJV called the boycott of the conference an "opportunistic attempt to label any criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism", claiming that "[a]nti-Semitism cannot be ended by...the subjugation of another people" and accusing the Israeli government of "suppressi[ng]...democracy and human rights". IJV also argued that "[t]here is certainly nothing anti-Semitic in the DDPA" and declared their "unconditional[] endorse[ment]" of Durban II. Perhaps it should come as ...

Leave a Comment »

June 19th, 2009 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: Boycott / Divestment, ICAHD, Miftah, Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Sabeel The President of York University in Toronto has issued a statement attempting to defend his university’s sponsorship of an event headlined “Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace”, scheduled for June 22 to 24. This response to intense criticism of the program attempts to portray serious criticism as an attack on academic freedom. However, in examining the details and the debate over this event, and in the context of vulgar anti-Israel activities and physical intimidation of Jewish students at York, these bland words are a diversion -- a straw man aimed at deflecting criticism, and blocking the important public debate over the role of university campuses as battlefields in the Arab-Israeli narrative wars that perpetuate the ...

Leave a Comment »

June 18th, 2009 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: ICAHD, Mossawa, NGO Monitor, New Israel Fund June 18, 2009 Uriel, I have no objection to being criticized, just as I expect NGOs and their funders, like NIF, to accept the legitimacy of criticism and the importance of informed public debate on these important issues. However, I do think that your blog item was unfair and inaccurate, and that you seem to be targeting NGO Monitor, beginning with the headline. The text starts by referring to NGO Monitor as “a pro-Israel watchdog group whose favorite targets are Arab-Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights groups”. This is an ideologically loaded description. Instead, you might have described us as “an Israel-based watchdog group that examines NGOs for bias and inaccuracy in regarding alleged human rights violations”. And regarding “disingenuous (read: ...

Leave a Comment »

June 11th, 2009 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: Boycott / Divestment, Coalition of Women for Peace, Medical Aid for Palestinians, New Israel Fund As part of its "10 days against the siege" campaign, the Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) has brought Caryl Churchill's "Seven Jewish Children - A Play for Gaza" to Israel to play tonight in Hebrew in Tel Aviv. The 10 minute play has caused heated protest and debate in the UK, Australia and the US so far as it continues to be staged worldwide. Termed "one of the most controversial plays in years", Seven Jewish Children has been termed "antisemitic" and a modern day "blood libel". Accused of "conflat[ing] criticism of the government of Israel with polemic about Israelis and Jews in general" and making a "connection between pre-World War II ...

Leave a Comment »

June 10th, 2009 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: Al Mezan, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, NGO Monitor, Palestinian Center for Human Rights, UN Given the heavy dependence by the UN Inquiry on the Gaza War on NGO reports and testimonies, NGO Monitor submitted a report to the commission led by Judge Richard Goldstone. NGO Monitor provided fact sheets on the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW). NGO Monitor's report provides context to the NGO reports detailing their politicized and disproportionate coverage of the Gaza War which, among other things, minimize or ignore completely Hamas' use of human shields. See NGO Monitor’s Submission to the Human Rights Council Inquiry on the Gaza War, Led by Judge Richard Goldstone, NGO Monitor, June 9, 2009. See also NGOs dominate Gaza fact-finding commissions, Anne ...

Leave a Comment »

June 9th, 2009 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: NGO Monitor, New Israel Fund 10 June 2009 Editor Jerusalem Post In his eagerness to libel me and NGO Monitor's research, Larry Garber, CEO of New Israel Fund has again misread the text. (‘Many Narratives, Not Just One’, June 7 2009). My article on the fictitious narrative that is used by many NGOs to demonize Israel did not endorse the "Nakba Law". (‘Taking Back the Narrative’, May 30, 2009). I explicitly noted that if had been passed (and the cabinet wisely withdrew it), it would have been nullified as a violation of free speech. The other 700 words of my analysis focused on the narrative wars, in which NIF's misguided funding plays a key role. In his diatribe, Mr. Garber chose to ignore the substantive criticism of NIF’s ...

Leave a Comment »

May 27th, 2009 by Gerald Steinberg | Category: Human Rights Watch, NGO Monitor Human Rights Watch, which was largely created and funded by Jewish donors to promote traditional human rights concerns, is now cooperating and seeking funding from the leaders of Saudi Arabia – one of the major violators of the norms that HRW claims to promote. This is consistent with HRW's central role in the demonization of Israel, and based on the exploitation of the rhetoric of human rights. Under the leadership of Kenneth Roth, HRW has been active in the campaigns condemning Israeli responses to attacks from Gaza, as well as during the 2006 Lebanon War, the Palestinian mass terror campaign, and in many other examples, as documented by NGO Monitor. An article in the Arab News praised Human Rights ...

Leave a Comment »

May 21st, 2009 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Humanitarian Law, Lawfare The long history of "Lawfare" use by NGOs is in jeopardy due to a change in Spanish universal jurisdiction laws. Pressure by foreign governments including Israel caused the move as NGOs respond with upset and claims that impunity will increase. "Lawfare" has been a popular NGO tool for political campaigns against Israel since the first UN Durban conference where the NGO Forum solidified the "Durban Strategy" for international isolation and demonization of Israel. This included calls for "war crimes tribunals" to "investigate and bring to justice those who may be guilty of war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing and the crime of Apartheid which amount to crimes against humanity that have been or continue to be perpetrated in Israel ...

Leave a Comment »

May 14th, 2009 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: EU, Government Funding, International Humanitarian Law, Palestinian Center for Human Rights, UN The Arab League’s “Fact Finding” Mission to Gaza presented a report of its findings and called for future lawfare against Israel.  John Dugard, the notorious UN Rapporteur, led the team and the EU and European government funded PCHR “prepared the agenda for the mission and coordinated its meetings and field visits. It also provided technical assistance for the mission.”  The object of the mission was to “investigate Israeli crimes and human rights violations” and to hold “Israel legally accountable for war crimes committed by Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza”.  The report called for “the formation of a team of lawyers and legal experts to consider various options to prosecute Israelis accused of committing war crimes against the ...

Leave a Comment »