"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...
"These and other critiques of the role of private foundations emerged from New Left scholar-activists seeking to uncover the emerging nongovernmental structures of power that, while operating under the rubric of progressive philanthropy, were working to undermine movements aiming for radical social change; they did so particularly in the name of containing Communism at home and abroad. Later, as global neoliberalism began to take hold, some scholars shifted the focus from foundations to the international NGOs ... "
When a relatively small number of British academics tried to hijack the traditional trade union agenda of the British University and College Union by calling for an academic boycott of Israel, they expected little opposition. The union, after all, is British, and the nation whose academics were to be boycotted is Israel.
The West is host to many organizationsthe Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the International Solidarity Movement, and countless othersdedicated to supporting the Palestinian cause. Given mounting casualties among Palestinian civilians under fire in Lebanon and Gaza this week, one would expect these organizations to voice their shock, outrage, or simple concern at these events. Take the plight of Palestinians in the northern Lebanese camp of Nahr el Bared: according to recent news reports, more than 130 people have died during the past three weeks of fighting there. The escalating violence in Gaza has claimed the lives of more than 70.
Professor Irwin Cotler, Opposition Critic for Human Rights in the Canadian Parliament, told the UN Human Rights Council today and made public for the first time that he declined the invitation of the President of the Human Rights Council to join the UN investigative mission into Beit Hanoun in Gaza because, [I] could not accept a mandate to hear only one side of a dispute [] which denied the other side the right to a hearing [] and which denied the presumption of innocence.
More than 50 people have been killed ..as Lebanese Army forces battle Islamists in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared.The resemblance of the Lebanese chain of events to Israel's April 2002 assault on the Jenin refugee camp as part of Operation Defensive Shield is striking.. Palestinians, Arab League, United Nations and human rights organizations all called for investigations into the Israeli operation, initially dubbed a "massacre" by Arab leaders and the news media. The IDF operation resulted in the deaths of 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers. Still, protests were sent to the UN Security Council, and inquiries were conducted by the UN, journalists and human rights organizations. All admitted that no massacre had taken place; however Human Rights Watch and others did claim that Israel had violated international law. CURIOUSLY, similar calls by the world community for investigations into the recent fighting in Lebanon are absent. Missing are the cries of the Arab world for an investigation into the deaths of innocent Palestinians.'
In this article, Alan Dershowitz sets forth why Norman Finkelstein, known for his inflammatory writings on the Holocaust and Israel, should be denied tenure at DePaul University in Chicago.
'Oxfam. is appealing to Western governments to end sanctions against the Hamas-dominated Palestinian government, despite Hamas's escalating rhetoric, involvement in terror operations and preparations for broader military confrontation with Israel Oxfam executive director Jeremy Hobbs stated: 'International aid should be provided impartially on the basis of need, not as a political tool to change the policies of a government'... The Palestinians receive vastly disproportionate amounts of aid in comparison to far more desperate peoples in Africa and Asia. This reflects the extraordinary amount of attention given to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in comparison to more expansive conflicts in other regions. According to the World Bank and Oxfam's own figures, aid to the Palestinians in 2006 actually increased by 20% over the prior year and funds directed to the PA doubled. '
"Gongos are government-sponsored nongovernmental organizations. Behind this contradictory and almost laughable tongue twister lies an important and growing global trend that deserves more scrutiny: governments funding and controlling nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), often stealthily. Some gongos are benign, others irrelevant. But many, including those mentioned above, are dangerous. Some act as the thuggish arm of repressive governments. Others use the practices of democracy to subtly undermine democracy at home. Abroad, the gongos of repressive regimes lobby the United Nations and other international institutions, often posing as representatives of citizen groups with lofty aims when, in fact, they are nothing but agents of the governments that fund them. Some governments embed their gongos deep in the societies of other countries and use them to advance their interests abroad."
Copyright 2024 Institute for NGO Research - R.A. 58-0465508. All Rights Reserved.
