Activity

• According to its website, “DanChurchAid is rooted in the Danish National Evangelical Lutheran Church.”
• Aims to conduct “humanitarian aid and development assistance in close cooperation with churches and other cooperative partners.” According to its “statutes,” this “means that DanChurchAid shall engage popular and political powers and seek to influence decision makers in order to improve conditions for the world’s poorest. These efforts shall be conducted on local, national and global levels.”
• In 2016, established a “joint office” with Norwegian Church Aid in Jerusalem.

Funding

• In 2023, total income was 1 billion Danish kroner (DKK; ~$146 million); total expenses were DKK 1 billion, of which DKK 35.2 million spent in “Palestine.”
• DanChurchAid donors include Denmark, European Union, Norway, Norwegian Church Aid, Lutheran World Federation, PAX, Church of Sweden, and the United Nations.  (See table below for further funding information.)
• DanChurchAid received €4.9 million (2019-2022) from the European Union in partnership with PalVision for “Promoting Change and Youth leadership in East Jerusalem.”

Funding to Politicized NGOs

• DanChurchAid has provided funding to a number of highly biased and politicized NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict including: Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem, Who Profits, BADIL, Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ), Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC), PalVision, Norwegian Church Aid, Ma’an Development Center, YMCA- East Jerusalem, and the Women’s Affairs Center. (See table below for further funding information.)
• In 2024, PalVision received DKK 1,263,468 from DanChurchAid.
  • Many of PalVision’s board members, officials, and employees have justified and glorified violence against Israeli civilians and praised individual terrorists and terrorist attacks.
• In 2023-2024, Ma’an Development Center received DKK 4.8 million from DanChurchAid.
  • In November 2023, Ma’an Development Center was a signatory on a statement urging states to issue a “Two-Way Arms Embargo on Israel,” demanding that “The US, the UK, Germany, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and other States that authorise the continued transfer of arms, and other forms of military support to Israel to immediately bring an end to such transfers…and immediately halt the provision of any materiel, equipment or other commodity that may foreseeably be used in the commission of serious international law violations including international crimes.” 
  • In October 2023, in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas attack on October 7, Ma’an Development Center was a signatory on a statement calling to “emphasize that the root causes of these events is the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel.” According to the statement, “We consider the flagrant unconditional support the U.S and European officials are offering Israel occupation while ignoring the plight of the Palestinian people as complicity in Israeli human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including the crime of apartheid. It is the international community’s failure to hold the Israel occupation accountable for its crimes that have led to the current situation.”
• In 2021-2022, DanChurchAid granted DKK 300,000 to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR).
  • PCHR has ties to a US and EU-designated terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP].  For more information, see NGO Monitor’s “Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ Links to the PFLP Terror Group.”
  • On October 7, 2023, in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas attack, PCHR Fundraising and Program Officer Feda’a Murjan posted on Facebook, “We will truly step in our land. Allah, you are our protector and supporter.”
  • On May 13, 2023, in the context of the May 2023 conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), PCHR published a statement in which it  “affirms the right of the Palestinian people to resist the occupation by all available means, including armed struggle, all the way to achieve their legitimate rights, end the occupation and establish their independent state” (emphasis added). 
    • Following pressure from European donors, PCHR altered the text to read: “to resist the occupation by all legitimate means in accordance with international law.”
• In 2019-2022 DKK 300,000 to BADIL.
  • BADIL is the main Palestinian “right of return” NGO, and a leader of BDS campaigns and political warfare against Israel. This NGO has published antisemitic cartoons on its website, as well as imagery calling for the destruction of Israel (also a form of antisemitism) and denying Israel’s right to exist. Cartoons published by BADIL include classic antisemitic tropes, featuring a Jewish man, garbed in traditional Hasidic attire, with a hooked nose and side locks. He stands above a dead child and skulls, holding a pitchfork dripping with blood. Additional graphics deny the legitimacy of Israel in any form and oppose peace agreements.
    • In correspondence with NGO Monitor, a representative from DanChurchAid agreed that the cartoon was antisemitic, attributing “this unfortunate incident” to “a misjudgment or error on behalf of Badil management.” NGO Monitor also requested information from DanChurchAid on its funding for BADIL. Despite repeated emails and phone calls, DanChurchAid did not respond to these questions.
  • In December 2023, BADIL published a report, “The Palestinian People Have a Right to Armed Struggle by Virtue of their Inalienable Right to Self-Determination,” openly denying the right of Israel to exist. According to BADIL, “It is important to note that the establishment of the State of Palestine on the pre-1967 borders does not realize the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, and so does not preclude the legitimacy of their collective acts in pursuit of self-determination. Rather, as long as their right to self-determination is not fully implemented by all and for all, the right to resist is activated, irrespective of whether or not a state for (some) Palestinians has been created and is gradually recognized by members of the international community” (emphasis in original).
• In 2021-2023, DanChurchAid granted €609,443 to the East Jerusalem YMCA, Ma’an Development, Church of Sweden, and PAX.
  • YMCA launched and manages (together with YWCA) the Joint Advocacy Initiative (JAI), which calls for a “wide boycott of goods from Israel, from Israeli settlements and from companies that contribute to the occupation until the occupation has ended and Palestinians enjoy their basic human rights.” JAI published a “BDS Resource” page as well as a “List of Products from Settlements in the Occupied Territories and List of Settlements.”
  • Church of Sweden is an Evangelical-Lutheran community that promotes settlement goods labeling and supports the “World Week of Peace in Palestine Israel,” organized by the World Council of Churches, which calls for “advocacy and action in support of an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine.”
  • In November 2023, PAX, alongside Oxfam Novib, Amnesty International, and the Rights Forum, announced they were suing the Netherlands for “continuing to export arms to Israel.” The lawsuit demanded “the immediate cessation of the supply of parts for Israeli F35 fighter planes.” 
• Funds DanWatch, which promotes BDS under the guide of “business ethics.” DanChurchAid specifically funds DanWatch’s project “Business on Forbidden Land,” focusing on Danish companies allegedly conducting business in Israeli settlements and opposing the marketing of Israeli goods produced in the West Bank.

Political Advocacy and Activities

• Some of DanChurchAid’s partners and grantees promote BDS (boycotts, divestments and sanctions) and lawfare campaigns, false “war crimes” allegations, and even antisemitic propaganda.
• In May 2024, DanChurchAid published a statement claiming, “As the main weapon provider for Israel’s military effort, the United States bears a significant responsibility for Israel’s IHL violations. In addition to halting the transfer of high payload bombs, the US should also use all its leverage to halt the ongoing military operation in Rafah. In fact, all suppliers of arms have to respect the Human Rights Council resolution voted on April 5 calling on them to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.”
• In July 2023, as a member of AIDA, published a statement that 12 people were killed during the July 2023 Jenin Operation. AIDA neglects to mention that 10 of those were members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Fatah, and al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. During the funeral procession, the bodies were wrapped in Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas flags. Following the withdrawal of Israeli troops, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh published a statement that “Palestinian resistance had taught a hard lesson to the enemy, and had made him suffer heavy losses.”
• In August 2022, DanChurchAid was a signatory on a statement condemning the decision by the Israeli Ministry to designate six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. According to the statement, “This offensive…is an appalling attack on Palestinian civil society working to uphold human rights and to document and denounce serious human rights abuses and violations of international law. It is yet an attempt to delegitimize, discredit and isolate these organisations.”
• In June 2022, DanChurchAid funded an investigation by Forensic Architecture on “Sheikh Jarrah: Ethnic Cleansing in Jerusalem.”
  • Forensic Architecture is a pseudo-research project that consistently generates analyses that are inaccurate, misleading, and blatantly prejudiced.
• In May 2021, DanChurchAid released a statement stating that five children of one of their employees had been killed “when the Israeli military bombed northern Gaza.” The statement appears to be referring to a blast in Beit Hanoun, caused by a Palestinian rocket that fell short of its intended target (Israeli civilians).
• In June 2017, to mark “50 years of occupation,” DanChurchAid organized a panel with Shawan Jabarin, Director of Al-Haq, and Hagai El-Ad, Director of B’Tselem.
  • Shawan Jabarin is linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.
• In May 2017, DanChurchAid published a statement defending itself against criticism that it partners with organizations that promote antisemitism and individuals with alleged ties to terrorism. NGO Monitor responded to the statement, outlining how DCA’s defensive and misleading response to criticism reflects a lack of due diligence in its funding of and partnerships with NGOs.
• Publishes one-sided condemnations of Israel that erase the context of terrorism, repeat the Palestinian narrative, ignore corruption, and blame Israel for Palestinian poverty and the continuation of the conflict.
• Was a signatory to the 2012 report “Trading Away Peace,” which repeats the BDS agenda and calls on EU and individual European governments to wage political warfare through various forms of economic sanctions against Israel.
• Claims that the “Palestinians are not able to move freely and are denied access to land and water,” ignoring evidence that Israel provides Palestinians in the West Bank with more water than required under the Oslo framework and that thieves are responsible for stealing up to 50 percent of supplies in some Palestinian areas. In so doing, DanChurchAid manipulates and distorts water and land issues in order to falsely portray Israel as a brutal regime.
• For three years beginning in June 2011, DanChurchAid partnered with Grassroots Jerusalem in a EuropeAid funded project to improve “respect for human rights and international humanitarian law in occupied East Jerusalem, where many Palestinians are exposed to poverty, violence, and violations of human rights.” Grassroots Jerusalem regularly describes Jerusalem as being “ethnically cleansed” and “colonized by the Israeli settlements” and claims that Israel is engaging in “collective punishment” and turning Palestinian villages into “ghetto[s].”
• As part of a “Gaza Emergency Response” campaign, DanChurchAid described the 2014 Gaza war as “the Israeli military’s ‘Operation Protective Edge’,” which “displaced” civilians in Gaza.  This attributes sole responsibility to Israel, ignoring that the military operation was launched in response to indiscriminate Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and that Hamas’ systematic policy of operating in civilian areas caused the displacement.
• In 2007, DCA joined with BADIL to implement a “Call to Action,” which included anti-Israel boycott and sanction campaigns; efforts to “[e]nlist journalists to organize a targeted campaign to expose the lies of AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League and to expose the Jewish and Zionist community’s double standards regarding Nakba & Occupation”; and enlisting the help of anti-Israel “Jewish” NGOs to “rais[e] awareness of the . . . right of return among the Jewish public in Israel.”

YPlus

• As part of DanChurchAid’s project with the European Union, “East Jerusalem Youth: Agents of Change,” DanChurchAid, PalVision, YMCA East Jerusalem, Afkar Production Company, and Masar Ibrahim al-Khalil created a media platform titled YPlus “to highlight East Jerusalem social, economic, and political realities to generate action that addresses International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) violations.”
• YPlus regularly posts content that utilizes antisemitic rhetoric.
• On April 19, 2022, a YPlus Facebook post alleged, “The Israeli forces violate the status quo by…regulating settlers’ stormings into the mosque and practicing Talmudic prayers.”
• In January 2022, a YPlus Facebook post read: “Have you ever heard about Hammam al-Ayn in the old city of Jerusalem that was built in the 14th century? What is the occupation’s plan for this historical site?…The plan aims to judaize the city of Jerusalem, besiege Al-Aqsa Mosque with Jewish buildings, in preparation for constructing the temple, and obliterate Islamic sites and historical monuments in the city.”

EAPPI

• In Denmark, DanChurchAid administers the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI).
• EAPPI sends volunteers to the West Bank to “witness life under occupation.” Upon completion of the program, the volunteers return to their home countries and churches where many engage in anti-Israel advocacy, including advocating for BDS campaigns in churches, comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany, and other delegitimization strategies.
• In 2021-2023, DanChurchAid granted DKK 250,000 to EAPPI.
• According to a DanChurchAid 2015 report, EAs from Denmark were provided with “learning material, including training videos on volunteering and reporting mechanisms for human rights violations.”
• EAPPI volunteers have used inflammatory, demonizing, and antisemitic rhetoric regarding Israel.