In a wide-ranging interview with Frontpage Magazine, Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld discusses a number of issues regarding anti-Israel bias and opinion in Europe in general and the Netherlands in particular, including Dutch government funding of anti-Israel NGOs.
"In its relentless quest to demonize the Jewish state, The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), a virulently anti-Israel activist organization headed by Jeff Halper, has in effect rewritten the Fourth Geneva Convention, the main achievement of those years of work. Here is what visitors to the Frequently Asked Question of the ICAHD Web site are told...
An August 6, 2007 article in the Jerusalem Post reports on a reportGround to a Halt: Denial of Palestinians Freedom of Movement in the West Bankissued by BTselem on Israeli check-points and security arrangements on West Bank roads. "According to the report, since movement restrictions on Palestinians were first imposed following the outbreak of the second intifada in September, 2000, they have come to serve extraneous purposes such as to control and channel Palestinian movement in order to separate them from Israelis. The restriction of movement allows Israelis to move uninterruptedly"
In a July 27th BBC News article, Steve Crawshaw, spokesman for Human Rights Watch, offers harsh criticism of the new Human Rights Council (HRC), based in Geneva and established one year ago to replace the UN Human Rights Commission: "I think it would be crazy to say that it has not been a disappointing year...The HRC should have been, if you like, a beacon of human rightsWe really hoped that the new council would move things forward radically. It has, to be honest, failed to do so," states Crawshaw. The article goes on to note that "critics say the council is barely any improvement on its predecessor ? and now there are moves in the US congress to try to cut off funding." Later in the article, Kristen Silverberg, the US assistant secretary of state responsible for US policy, highlights the Council's singling out of Israel: "It's really been a grave disappointment to usThis is a council that devoted eight different actions to bashing and criticising Israel before it lifted a finger to help people in any other part of the world, including the long-suffering people of Burma, or North Korea, or Zimbabwe."
Following NGO Monitors report on Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) funding of anti-Israel NGOs, a concerned German citizen sent a letter to the FES demanding a response from FES. Below are found English translations of that letter, as well as the detailed reply offered by Dr. Andr Grber, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Unit, Department of International Development and Cooperation, FES. (The original German letter and response are provided at the end of the English translation of the correspondence.)
Letter to Larry Garber, Executive Director, New Israel Fund Excerpt: The prominent posting on NIFs home page of a defamatory blog attack on NGO Monitor in "muzzlewatch" is another attempt to prevent honest criticism and suppress discussion. NIF is a very influential and controversial force in Israel and its activities should not be immune to open debate and criticism. Instead of using muzzlewatch to prevent this discussion, NIFs donors and the citizens of Israel deserve a more credible response. The blog posting on NGO Monitor commits numerous sins of omission and commission, distorting facts and manipulating quotes. One third of NIFs budget goes to more than 20 organizations claiming to promote "civil rights" for Israels Arab minority. But the situation is entirely different, and these NGOs use NIF money to demonize and delegitimize Israel. Adallah, Mousawa and others submit papers to the UN accusing Israel of apartheid and referring to Zionism as racism. Instead of false accusations against NGO Monitor, NIF officials, board members and donors should welcome an honest public discussion of the positive activities, such as support for reconstruction after the 2006 Lebanon War, and where the mistakes are made. NGO Monitors careful analyses provide the basis for such a discussion, and we look forward to a civil and constructive discussion on these important issues.
Having completed a 5-day tour of the West Bank and Gaza, a "high-level delegation" of The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has issued July 17 press release calling on all Palestinian groups "to uphold the rule of law," and condemning human rights abuses by Palestinian factions, including torture and summary executions. During their visit to Gaza, the members of the mission met with three senior Hamas officials, including Hamas Gaza chief Ismail Haniyeh. The FIDH does not indicate that it held any meetings with Israeli government officials in its mission. The statement calls upon Israel "to immediately and without condition release the 43 elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council currently detained in Israel." Yet, disturbingly, the FIDH fails to call on Palestinian groups, including Hamas, to cease terrorist attacks against Israel. The report is yet another example of FIDH's strong pro-Palestinian political agenda and one-sided analysis.
Sabeel has announced that it will be holding a conference, in conjunction with North American Friends of Sabeel October 26-27 in Boston. The conference promotes the Durban strategy of demonization, referring to Israel with terms such as "apartheid". Advertised speakers include Desmond Tutu, John Dugard, (UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in the Palestinian Territories), Naim Ateek, and Jeff Halper (head of ICAHD, which is funded by the European Union).
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) issued a press release on July 15th calling "for an immediate investigation into attacks against 3 journalists while they were covering a demonstration organized by national factions in Khan Yunis on Thursday evening, 12 July 2007, forcing them to delete all video footages and photographs before releasing them." PCHR demanded an investigation into "violations, including beating and degrading treatment, against a number of people who were arrested following the demonstration." Who committed the violence? Palestinian groups?
Neither Israel nor Lebanon has investigated allegations of war crimes from last year's conflict, the human rights group Amnesty International charged in a statement released Thursday, calling for a United Nations inquiry. In its reports since the war, Amnesty criticized Hezbollah for firing nearly 4,000 rockets at Israeli cities and towns, and Israel for bombing civilian areas and using cluster bombs in south Lebanon...Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev's response to the Amnesty charges was quoted in The International Herald Tribune -- "The Israeli system of justice is independent, professional and transparent. Allegations of inappropriate behavior by Israeli military personal have been thoroughly investigated. Israel is a country in which respect of human rights and the rule of law are at the very center of the political process."
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