There is a relentless NGO war on Israel being carried out by European NGOs that act as a front for European antisemites.
This story is based on a 2014 interview which I conducted with Itai Reuveni who is currently the Director of Communications for NGO Monitor. I wrote an op-ed named The Jewish Hidden Defensive Chip.
What I learned from Itai eight years ago should have frightened all the Jews in the state of Israel, the Jews who live outside Israel, and all those who support the Jewish state. More so, since things only got worse, it should frighten the same people nowadays.
Uncovering the NGO War on Israel
The issue is about what NGO Monitor knows and thus is doing that is so crucially important to the survival of Israel. They are helping to fight Israel’s fight for survival by constantly exposing the activities and the truth about the “human rights” Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), mostly financed by European states.
In 2014 Itai and I “got it”; I saw it was imperative that others should get it too and this op-ed is a sad reminder because this troubling issue did not get better. It only got much worse.
The name NGO Monitor explains its work. They monitor the NGOs’ hostile activities toward Israel, especially those who manage to insert their rancid activities into Israel’s social fabric and thus affect the life of every Israeli.
To better understand, perhaps even help Israel to rebut this enemy, mostly from within and funded from outside, we must constantly expose what Israel has been facing for decades, which is the complexity and ambiguity of the NGOs’ labyrinth and their ongoing activities to subvert Israel.
Real Middle East peace is not served by destroying Israel.
Ad Kan
Recently, I hosted Gilad Ach, the Director of the Ad Kan Organization, literally “Up to here” in Hebrew.
Ad Kan conducts investigations and works against anti-Israel and anti-Semitic organizations seeking to delegitimize Israel and constantly foment hatred toward the Jewish State and Jews, worldwide.
Ad Kan personnel conduct sophisticated operations in the field to successfully uncover the heinous activities of these organizations, many times putting themselves at risk and danger. They document the inner workings of the fake “civil rights” enemies of the Jewish State and expose them to the public at large through their hundreds of media investigations, applying legal proceedings, help draft laws and collaboration with state authorities all in order to promote a Jewish, strong Israel.
The Campaign Against Israel
Who stands behind the campaign against Israel, which is literally a wealth-sustained anti-Israel protest industry?
The NGOs’ relentless protests against Israel are their bread and butter activities. While the public do not trust their government much, the NGOs, of all sorts, gained the public’s trust. The NGOs have gained recognition and legal status to operate along the widespread halo call for “human rights,” environment and education, issues that greatly appeal to the Europeans who were the first to be “enlightened.”
When Amnesty International puts out an op-ed, or speaks up, wrong or right, the media quotes it and the politicians repeat it.
NGO Selective Vision
Among the NGOs that constantly condemn Israel’s actions while claiming to champion human rights are Addameer, Al-Haq, Alternative Information Center, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Ir Amim, and Yesh Din. These NGOs refuse to blame the terror actions on the Arabs who carry them out. They do not identify Arab terrorism as illegal.
In the recent deadly terrorism activities in Israel, the following NGOs, to name a few, Adalah, Al-Mezan, Coalition of Women for Peace, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), Young Womens Christian Association (YWCA), War on Want, all released statements criticizing Israeli policy and actions, without even noting the attacks against Israeli civilians.
NGOs Do Nothing For Arabs
Among the most dangerous to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and Israeli civilians is “Breaking The Silence” (Shovrim Shtika) NGO, funded by the Europeans with activists mostly out of Israel. The organization recruits Israeli soldiers, as useful idiots, who completed their conscription duty and have them tell stories about their military service, stories that are abstract, not based on objectivity, facts and figures.
The activities of these NGOs have not helped the Arabs’ standard of living one iota but created uncontrolled and unending incitement to hate the state of Israel’s existence and harm Jews. They feed the worst kind of campaigns against Israel while making money, fame and a career out of subverting the foundations of Israel’s democracy and its right to exist.
Sovereignty
Unfortunately, the Israeli public do not understand the meaning of the term sovereignty, which, in layman’s terms means a state or a governing body has the full right and power to govern itself without any interference from any and all outside sources. In political terms, sovereignty is a designated supreme authority over some polity. It is a basic principle underlying the dominant Westphalian* model of a state’s foundation. (*Westphalian sovereignty: the concept that all nation-states have sovereignty over their territory, with no role for external agents in domestic structures.)
Israel is a sovereign country. Israelis however do not fully understand the term in order to use their sovereignty to their best advantage. And that is where the NGOs come in and dig under, mind you successfully, Israel’s sovereignty with much help from the Israeli High Court and others, mostly Left leaning Israeli bodies that subscribe to the NGOs’ warfare on Israel industry while having no interest in the wellbeing of their own homeland.
European Obsession With Undermining Israel
It is clear that the Europeans are obsessed with funding the anti-Israel NGOs knowing all too well the end game. To comprehend this, it requires a thought process.
WWII ended 77 years ago. For a short while the Europeans managed to bury their rather ancient Antisemitism sentiments. But these revolting sentiments, which caused the murder of 6 million Jews did not go away, therefore, the Europeans needed to create a new route to go after the Jews. They implemented soft power instead of physical or military action.
The Europeans like to export their economy, culture and liberal values in order to influence the world. Along with their various exports they also invest money in other than European lands that to the European civil society appear to be important.
In order to implement their soft power, the Europeans use several tools, such as humanitarianism. Since they prefer to solve what they see as the world’s problems in a non-political way, the Europeans use NGOs as their soft power implementers. To them, the NGOs represent civil society, the ones who can convey Europe’s obsessive human rights sanctity.
To all this they insert bureaucracy which allocates endless funds to advance European policy.
Implementing The “Two State Solution”
Mistakenly, the entire European Union (EU) sees the Oslo Accords “two state solution,” one Jewish and one “Palestinian,” that Israel signed for, as the only way to end the ongoing conflict the Arabs have with Israel. They therefore want to influence, even impose, this policy on Israel and they use the power of money to do it. That money, which is designated to advance their civil society policy, is allocated by European bureaucrats. The decision as to whom to allocate the funds and the amount goes through a very complex process. Once approved, the money is given to the NGOs by a simple press of a button.
No Transparency
No one is accountable for money that has been passed to any NGO for any activity, whether good or bad, but seems to be matching the European policy. There is no one to point fingers at since there is a deliberate and complex total lack of transparency. It is also most difficult to unravel who is in charge of the decision to pass those funds and for what purpose an NGO received it. Much of the money funneled to the NGOs is buried under the scrutiny of public security and commercial interests’ aspects.
Excuses
And why? Because the NGO activities against Israel, for which they receive funds, are all buried under several excuses, while the truth is their full intent to subvert, even destroy, Israel.
Do the EU member states know full well what these NGOs do to Israel? Of course! Do they care? NO!
Europeans Subvert International Law
While Israel respects international law, the Europeans make it up as they go along. When it comes to Israel, Europe simply invents international law; it acts as if it is required by law to sanction Israel for its activities over the pre-1967 ceasefire line, i.e., Judea and Samaria and “east” Jerusalem. Even though there is no such binding international legislation, Europe, through the nefarious NGO activities, acts as Israel’s unapproved arbiter. This is dangerous to the Jewish state’s existence.
This European behavior is not about international law. It is about an obsessive-compulsive need to constantly pick at the Jewish state. The Europeans’ long-standing Antisemitism against the individual Jew has morphed into a collective Antisemitism against the Jewish state, Israel, delivered by their NGO activities.
Explaining the NGO Actions Against Israel
The funding of NGOs that are hostile to Israel could be the result of lack of understanding and ignorance, in which a decision has been made, thinking that their actions are to do something good.
The Europeans may think that their money will help the Arab refugees of 7 decades to return to their “homes,” which are in Israel. This comes from a cultural and political gap. Have the Europeans given a thought to the idea that the Arab refugees returning “home” and thus flooding Israel with their numbers coincides with the end of Israel? Of course they have.
“Human rights” is the main obsessive weapon with which the “enlightened Europeans” attack Israel. However, those very “human rights” are skewed when it comes to Israel.
When Arabs perpetrate terror on Israelis, the focus of the “human rights” NGOs, such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) is immediately shifted to Israel, seeking any and all ways to indict Israel.
The EU does not want Israel to know their entire policy toward it and the pressure they put on its policy using the NGOs as their conduit.
The reason? They know it is not to Israel’s approval nor liking. Therefore, they outsource their policy and funding via the many NGOs, creating a vicious cycle that burrows under Israel’s democratic foundations.
Abusing the Human Rights Concept
The NGOs use and abuse the human rights concept in order to organized an everlasting political campaign against the Jewish state and Israeli-Jews that simply translates to enhance Antisemitism.
NGO Monitor and Ad Kan constantly investigate the NGO industry in order to expose the reality behind the NGOs’ activities. Working with a moderate budget, their staff includes field operators and legal, and they constantly reveal the NGO scene behind the scenes. Their audience is politicians, the legal system, the media and the public who are interested in their investigative work.
If their budget was to increase, NGO Monitor and Ad Kan could employ more brain and research power and field operators that would help a wider and more persuading exposure of the NGO activities that border on illicit.
The Real Essence of The NGO Makeup
The NGO activities against Israel is an industry. Members of these organizations earn large sums of money and thus could care less if they earn good or bad money, if their activities are good or bad, while especially they could care less if the Jewish state is suffering because of their actions.
While for centuries the Europeans had an issue with the Jew’s right to exist, to decide his or her fate; now the Europeans have an issue with Israel’s right to exist, the Jews’ right to decide their fate in their homeland. This tune is delivered through the NGOs.
Finding Solutions
The term human rights has become a weapon against Israel. It must be straightened up. How do we bring back the real human rights, not the ones that serve a political or ethnic agenda?
Israel has the right to exist in peace. The NGOs stirring constant upheaval in Israel is not a matter of the Right or Left political spectrum.
Since human rights are generally important to all people who live in the Democratic states, NGO Monitor and Ad Kan fight to expose the NGOs for what they are and the bad things they do. This is what each of us that care about real rights can support.
NGO Monitor and Ad Kan are professional organizations dedicated to exposing the NGO front organizations, thus protecting Israel from nefarious activities. These two organizations are part of the solution to end the discriminatory NGO activities against the Jews of Israel and their state.
All people who care about fairness can pick up the human rights flag and help implement real rights where they have gone amiss.
