Introduction

Germany 1

  • The German government provides millions of Euros annually, through direct and indirect funding processes, to highly politicized NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that operate in Germany, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. Most of the funding to NGOs is transferred through German Stiftungen (foundations) which have become prevalent actors in Israeli society.
  • German NGO funding is officially dedicated to “… establishing peace, freedom, democracy and human rights…,” and many projects are devoted to these important goals.
  • However, the German government also funds organizations that contribute to the growing demonization of Israel and BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns, in direct contradiction to German foreign policy. These NGOs oppose peace and negotiations, and promote narratives that reject the legitimacy of a Jewish state.
  • Such funding is a major source in manipulating German societal perceptions of Israel and constitutes a misuse of taxpayer monies.
  • In addition, NGO projects are used in place of direct diplomacy, in violation of international norms and accepted relations between states.

Examples

(see “German Funding for Political Advocacy NGOs Active in the Arab-Israeli Conflict” for more details):

NGOArea of activityFunding (NIS)German Funding Instrument/Institution
Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP)Leader of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns119,877 (2013)Church Development Service (Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst - EED) - association of the Protestant Churches
47,800 (2013)Medico International
146,026 (2011)
197,969 (2010)
Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung
ZochrotPromotes a one-state solution123,684 (2013)
118,607 (2012)
BISCHOEFLICHES - Catholic Aid Agency
121,509 (2012)Misereor  - German Catholic Bishops’ Organisation for Development Cooperation
COMET – MEIllegal building without permits, using German funds1,686,624 (2011)
593,545 (2010)
Medico International (funders include Federal Foreign Office, BMZ and ifaZivik- Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, EU)
120,000 (2010)German Representative Office Ramallah

Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) – CWP, which describes  itself as “a feminist organization against the occupation of Palestine and for a just peace,” is a leader of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, particularly via the “Who Profits” campaign it initiated. The “Who Profits” website serves as an “online database and information centre,” initiated “in response to the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel…” CWP officials have been photographed holding a flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – an EU-recognized terrorist organization responsible for numerous attacks against civilians. (After NGO Monitor informed CWP’s German funders of this image, it was removed from CWP’s Facebook page.)

Zochrot – This Israeli NGO seeks to “raise public awareness of the Palestinian Nakba…The memory and responsibility that the Jewish public should take on the Palestinian Nakba are basic conditions to peace between people, but it is not enough. Along with it, the rights of the refugees to return must be accepted.” This agenda is equivalent to calling for the elimination of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Indeed, Zochrot officials have also publicly supported a one-state framework. Eitan Bronstein stated, “I don’t know who will want to return, but whoever will want to- let him return. And if the result is that there will not be a Jewish state, then there won’t be one. My preferred concept is one state from the sea to the Jordan River” (emphasis added). To bolster the narrative of “return” and Israel’s illegitimacy, Zochrot also accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and “forcible displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people.”

Comet-ME (Community, Energy and Technology in the Middle-East) – The organization was established in 2009 to “build renewable energy systems for communities that are not connected to the electricity grid because of political reasons and build local capacity to install and maintain those systems.” However, Comet-ME’s work is also very political and may be in violation of Israeli law. In an article regarding building in Area C of the West Bank, co-founder Elad Orian stated, “We don’t get any permits [from the Israeli Civil Administration], so we simply build without.” Orian is a political activist and a member of the audit committee of Zochrot (see above). Orian also signed a petition in support of Tali Fahima, a pro-Palestinian activist who was convicted for contact with terrorists.