NGO Monitor Launches a Campaign Against Several Arab Civil Society
Organizations in Reaction to UN ECOSOC Granting Ittijah Special Consultative
Status
Ittijah - Union of Arab Community Based Associations
Press Release
13 December 2004
NGO Monitor, an organ of the American pro-Israel lobby working closely with
the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recently released a report defending
discriminatory Israeli policies and condemning a number of local and
international Arab non-governmental organizations for their allegedly
'anti-Israel' activities. It berates these NGOs for pointing out facts, never
alleging that these facts are somehow incorrect or misunderstood.
The report focuses on the Special Consultative Status granted to Ittijah by
the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC) earlier this year.
The report proceeds under the assumption that UN ECOSOC is a biased,
anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian body, arguing Ittijah will utilize its newly
acquired status 'in directing the anti-Israel activities of Palestinian NGOs'.
Finally, it condemns UN ECOSOC, stating that it 'has further diminished its
credibility by granting Ittijah a wider podium from which to pursue its anti-Israel
agenda.'
The report refers to Ittijah as a 'highly politicized' organization because
it played a role in the 2001 Durban International Conference, explaining and
providing examples of Israel's structural and institutional discrimination
against Palestinians in Israel. This builds on a previous NGO Monitor report
that implied Ittijah has hidden motives because it 'has joined a number of
Palestinian NGOs in rejecting anti-terror clauses in funding agreements,
specifically USAID and the Ford Foundation.' It is the very nature of civil
society institutions to reject terrorism in all its forms, not only as defined
by the state those institutions are struggling against by demanding respect for
basic human rights. NGO Monitor chooses not to explain this to its readers,
many of whom will automatically equate rejection of 'anti-terror clauses' with
support for terrorism. It also ignores the fact that the American Civil
Liberties Union recently rejected these same clauses as vague and unnecessary.
NGO Monitor has, since its inception, written similar reports on Arab
organizations and associations, especially Adalah (The Legal Center for Arab
Minority Rights), The Arab Association for Human Rights, I'lam Media Center,
and others, all featured on NGO Monitor's website. Even eminently respectable
groups like Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, and Oxfam have
been called anti-Israel and anti-Semitic for pointing out that Israeli state
practices are, in fact, discriminatory in nature. The fact that these groups
happen to be correct is not mentioned in NGO Monitor's reports.
But NGO Monitor is impartial in that it attacks Israeli-Jewish NGOs as much
as all the others, and at about the same level of integrity. Thus B'Tselem is
an illegitimate NGO because its objective is 'to change Israeli policy in the
Occupied Territories' (NGO Monitor's emphasis), Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch
reports are 'distorted by political bias', HaMoked Center for the Defense of
the Individual has a 'highly politicized anti-Israel agenda', the Israel
Committee Against House Demolitions 'focuses primarily on…justification of
terrorism', and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel 'exploits human rights for
political ends'. Even Rabbis for Human Rights comes in for a lashing, as NGO
Monitor condemns it for 'complete disregard for violations against Israeli
citizens.' What, exactly, Rabbis for Human Rights can do about 'violations
against Israeli citizens' is left to the imagination of the reader.
Dore Gold, a well-known right-wing extremist who served as Benjamin
Netanyahu's Foreign Policy Advisor from 1996-1997, runs NGO Monitor. Its
website lists Dr. Gold as their 'publisher'. Along with the American-Israeli
Public Affairs Committee and the Anti-Defamation League, NGO Monitor has taken upon
itself the task of defending the policies of the state of Israel, no matter
what they are or whom they hurt, by demonizing everyone who opposes those
policies, no matter how they go about doing so. It consistently implies that
criticism of Israel is evidence of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish
intentions. It provides no explanation for why Israeli Jews themselves might be
so hardheaded as to be committed 'anti-Israel' agitators.
NGO Monitor's reports are designed to gain the support and sympathy of
American decision-making bodies and donor foundations in order to foster its
right-wing policies, and to cut off funds from international donors to Arab
civil society institutions by equating defense of Palestinian rights with
terrorism and violence. This is nothing but an extension of the state's attack
on Palestinian civil society. Despite NGO Monitor's apparent wishes, the
Palestinians will not simply go away. We will continue to build our society,
despite demonization, attacks, and – as in the present case – nearly hysterical
condemnations without even the slightest factual backing. We are not here to
please Dore Gold.
NGO Monitor responds:
NGO Monitor stands by its analysis of the
highly politicized activities of Ittijah, which openly takes credit for its
role in the demonization of Israel at the 2001 Durban conference. Ittijah’s
vitriolic attack on NGO Monitor demonstrates this organization’s failure to
address the real issues raised by NGO Monitor’s analysis.