Contact: Lenny Ben-David, NGO Monitor
054-216-8155 – lenny.bendavid@ngo-monitor.org
Jerusalem – In a groundbreaking publication, German Funding for Political Advocacy NGOs Active in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, NGO Monitor reports on German government funding provided to numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Israel and the Palestinian Authority that engage in delegitimization campaigns targeting Israel. The funding for these political advocacy NGOs is channeled through German political foundations (Stiftungen), church aid organizations, and NGOs.
“The German Government and people are important supporters of Israeli universities, Holocaust programs, and research institutes, which is very positive,” said Prof. Gerald Steinberg, President of NGO Monitor.
“However, this does not justify the damage done by NGOs that receive funds from Germany and are among the leaders of the boycott and demonization projects attacking Israel,” Steinberg continued. “There were also recipients that practice blatant antisemitism. The heads of these frameworks and German government officials should have known about and prevented such moral abuses by their NGO partners.”
For instance, German government funding for the Israeli NGO known as “Zochrot” came from the Rosa Luxembourg Stiftung, Medico International,
Misereor, and the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation (EVZ).
Zochrot proclaims, “the rights of the [Palestinian] refugees to return must
be accepted,” which is equivalent to calling for the elimination of Israel
as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
EVZ ended Zochrot funding in 2012 because “EVZ supports educational projects
but does not support organizations that also have a political agenda.” Other
foundations should follow this precedent.
In another example, the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung has funded a leader of BDS
campaigns, Coalition of Women for Peace. Beyond this blatant political
warfare, CWP officials have been photographed holding a flag of the PFLP
terror group – responsible for numerous attacks against civilians. The
channeling of German taxpayer funds to NGOs such as CWP via RLS is
inconsistent with German policies and moral obligations.
In this detailed study, which expands on our research on Spain, Italy, the
EU, and other governmental funding mechanisms , NGO Monitor examined 13
funding frameworks, and listed 35 NGO grantees and partners. In order to
receive accurate and updated information on funding for NGOs in the region,
NGO Monitor corresponded with the German funding organizations. However,
reflecting the disturbing lack of transparency in this funding, most of the
German foundations refused to provide substantive information on grants and
other activities.
The NGO Monitor study also found a general absence of transparency
requirements and independent evaluations of the grants through German
government funding frameworks. Most of the mechanisms examined in the study
do not publish the amounts provided to the grantees, in violation of good
governance principles regarding the use of public funds. In addition, the
grant procedures remain hidden. Most importantly, the German government
lacks oversight mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the impact of
taxpayer-funded activities by political advocacy NGOs.
Read the full report:
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/german_funding_for_political_advocacy_ngos_active_in_the_arab_israeli_conflict
NGO Monitor, an independent research institution, was founded in 2002 in the
wake of the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa. At this
conference, 1,500 NGOs formulated the “Durban Strategy” which aims to
isolate Israel through measures such as boycott, divestment and sanctions
(BDS) campaigns, lawfare, delegitimization and demonization.
NGO Monitor (www.ngo-monitor.org), is the leading source of expertise on the
activities and funding of political advocacy NGOs involved in the
Arab-Israeli conflict. NGO Monitor provides detailed and fully sourced
information and analysis, promotes accountability, and supports discussion
on the reports and activities of NGOs (non-governmental organizations)
claiming to advance human rights and humanitarian agendas.
# # #
All these NGOs should be expelled until they clean their acts.