Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP)
Profile
| Country/Territory | United States |
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| Website | http://www.allmep.org/ |
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| In their own words | “a network of organizations that conduct civil society work in conflict transformation, development, coexistence and cooperative activities on the ground in the Middle East among Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, and Jews.” |
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Activities
- ALLMEP is a coalition over 160 member organizations, “building people-to-people cooperation, coexistence, equality, shared society, mutual understanding, and peace among their communities.” However, in contrast to these stated goals, its members include a number of highly biased and politicized NGOs that promote agendas based solely on the Palestinian narrative of victimization and completely omit Israeli perspectives. (See more on ALLMEP’s members below.)
- Claims that “members seek to build a secure just and sustainable peace where all can enjoy the rights and freedoms needed for them to reach their human potential and live in peace with one another with dignity.”
- ALLMEP works “to support our members by ensuring more attention and resources are dedicated to their groundbreaking work.”
- ALLMEP is building an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, which is “poised to pour at least $200 million annually into the region, thus leveraging international public and private support to scale up grassroots peacebuilding dramatically.” This includes lobbying for a $50 million contribution from the U.S. Congress.
Lobbying
- ALLMEP regularly engages in lobbying, approaching “opinion makers, elected representatives, government officials, American and international funders, and the international community about the critical opportunities and needs of people-to-people efforts.”
- According to its website “our direct advocacy to the United States Congress has created and sustained the USAID Conflict Management and Mitigation grants program, which has distributed over $100 million to Israeli and Palestinian civil society organizations over the past ten years.”
- According to its website, “ALLMEP connects NGOs to decision makers. Since its inception, it has coordinated more than 600 meetings with Congress, the White House, Israeli and Palestinian leaders, prime ministers, foreign ministers, the State Department, USAID, European and Arab governments, and the media.”
- In December 2020, after lobbying by ALLMEP, the House of Representatives passed the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act which “would provide $250 million over five years in order to expand peace and reconciliation work in the region.” According to ALLMEP, “The legislation, which is a result of over a decade of work from ALLMEP, is the largest investment in this sector ever.”
- ALLMEP has also engaged in lobbying in the United Kingdom. In November 2020, “ALLMEP’s campaign to create an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace received unanimous and enthusiastic support from all Members of Parliament.” According to ALLMEP, “ALLMEP was instrumental in securing a £3 million budget from the United Kingdom and another $3 million from the government of Canada for people-to-people programming.”
- During the Parliamentary debate to create the fund, one MP “pa[id] tribute to the Alliance for Middle East Peace…[who] has being [sic] plugging away for a long time on this.”
- In September 2021, the UK Liberal Democratic Party passed a motion calling for the UK to “support the ‘creation of an international fund for peace, such as the fund proposed by the Alliance for Middle East Peace.’” The Party invited ALLMEP to present and share “valuable insights regarding the field of practice, the needs of peacebuilding organizations in the region, and a vision for the way forward.”
- In December 2024, following meetings between ALLMEP Executive Director John Lyndon, ALLMEP Policy Coordinator Rachael Liss, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Starmer pledged his support for the establishment of the International Fund.
Political Advocacy
- Huda Abu Arqoub, ALLMEP’s Regional Director, has claimed that Hamas is “not a terrorist organization” and accused Israel of attacking Islam. At the 2014 and 2015 J Street conferences, she spoke in support of anti- Israel BDS (boycotts, divestments and sanctions).
- In March 2024, Abuarqoub argued that “the ‘Day After’ the Gaza War Will Have to Include Hamas.”
- In April 2025, ALLMEP was a co-sponsor for the 20th annual “Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony” hosted by Parents Circle Families Forum and Combatants for Peace. The ceremony created a major controversy, with critics arguing that it promotes a Palestinian narrative that draws an immoral equivalence between terror victims and terrorists.
Key Members
- ALLMEP lists over 150 member organizations. In contrast to the stated goals of working toward “peace” and “coexistence,” its members include a number of highly biased and politicized NGOs that promote agendas based solely on the Palestinian narrative of victimization and completely omit Israeli perspectives.
- Many ALLMEP members organizations promote “apartheid” rhetoric and lobby governments to adopt anti-Israel BDS policies:
- Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
- CMEP “engages in directly [sic] advocacy and education with the U.S. Congress. The CMEP board and staff communicate with Senate and House offices on a regular basis to further the policy positions of the CMEP coalition.”
- Organizes “Annual Holy Land Journey” that allows participants to “explore[] the complex issues facing Israelis and Palestinians.” Participants meet with members of highly politicized NGOs including Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), Breaking the Silence, Christian Peacemakers Team, Gisha, Tent of Nations, Parent’s Circle Families Forum, and Wi’am: The Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center.
- In June 2025, following Israeli and American strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites and Iran’s targeting of Israeli population centers, CMEP published a statement claiming, “The threat of war with Iran has also dangerously diverted global attention from the ongoing atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank. While headlines shifted to Tehran, Palestinians in Gaza have continued to be killed…We urge the U.S. and the international community to immediately refocus their attention on ending the war on Gaza… The lives of Palestinians matter, and the ongoing devastation in Gaza must not be normalized or ignored.”
- In October 2023, CMEP was a signatory on a letter to Members of Congress claiming, “Our past responses have failed to end the bloodshed. As these horrific events unfold, we are reminded once again that only by addressing core systemic issues, including decades of institutionalized oppression and collective punishment of Palestinians through brutal military occupation and a 16-year Gaza blockade, will Israelis and Palestinians live in peace.”
- In August 2021, CMEP signed a letter to Speaker Pelosi, Senator Schumer, and President Biden calling to “Stop Ethnic Cleansing in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem and all of Palestine.” The letter called to “end U.S. military funding to Israel, which perpetuates apartheid and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land” (emphasis in original).
- Combatants for Peace
- While claiming to “allow each side to understand the other’s narrative,” Combatants for Peace activities reflect a strong affiliation with the Palestinian agenda and narrative, placing most of the blame for the conflict on “the occupation.”
- In June 2023, Combatants for Peace, alongside 16 Israeli NGOs, published a joint report titled “State of the Occupation – Year 56: A Joint Situation Report” affirming that “that after 56 years of occupation, Israel’s actions in the West Bank today meet the criteria of apartheid.” According to the report, “The current government’s steps, motivated by its stated Jewish supremacy ideology, will also deepen the apartheid regime governing nearly all aspects of oPt Palestinians’ lives.”
- In November 2022, Combatants for Peace sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament urging the European Parliament to “recognize the State of Israel as a state sponsor of terrorism.”
- Holy Land Trust
- Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF)
- While PCFF advocates for “reconciliation,” “dialogue,” and “knowledge of the other,” it exploits the grief of families and the language of peace to promote a highly divisive, contentious, and narrow personal agenda.
- As part of its ongoing “Dialogue Encounters” program, PCFF gives presentations to Israeli public school students, which include relatives of Palestinian terrorists who had been killed, together with bereaved families of Israelis and Palestinians. Following complaints from parents, the Israeli Ministry of Education, which is responsible for authorizing extracurricular programming, declared that relatives of terrorists could no longer participate. Legal advisor of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, Attorney Hila Cohen, noted: “Drawing a comparison between bereaved Israeli families and Palestinian families is inconceivable, as such discussions legitimize acts of terrorism.”
- In December 2023, in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas attack, PCFF was a signatory on a statement claiming, “As proponents of human rights, we must fight apartheid and oppression…the widespread support among the Israeli public for the nature of the Israeli retaliation in Gaza — a retaliation which in itself resulted in a horrific extent of killing and suffering — together with the calls by prominent public figures (as well as parts of the Israeli public) for ethnic cleansing and population transfer, are cause for deep concern.”
- Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR-I)
- Under the guise of medical expertise and scientific fact, PHR-I promotes distorted and false narratives, aimed at demonizing and delegitimizing Israel in the international arena.
- PHR-I is part of a network of NGOs that promote artificial and manufactured definitions of apartheid to extend the ongoing campaigns that seek to delegitimize and demonize Israel. In May 2021, in the context of the 2021 Gaza Conflict, PHR-I published a statement that “For decades, Palestinians have lived under Israeli control in its various forms – including aspects of apartheid and colonialism – in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel.
- In May 2024, PHR-I published an article titled, “The ongoing Nakba must be stopped.” According to the article, “Every day in our work, we witness the Nakba’s repercussions…A continuous thread binds the past and present moments of this ongoing catastrophe–yet let us not be misled by this deterministic chronology of events. At every juncture along this continuum, there was an opportunity to stop. And that opportunity still exists. To resist.”
- In May 2023, PHR-I was a signatory on a statement blaming Israel for the death of Khader Adnan following his 86-day-long hunger strike and refusal to receive medical treatment from the Israeli Prisons Service. According to the statement, “Israel’s unjust system of arrests and detention are part and parcel of the policies used by Israel to maintain its occupation and apartheid regime.”
- OneVoice International
- One Voice is the “legal-organizational channel” for Victory 2015 (V15), a campaign seeking to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2015 March elections. OneVoice Israel’s Executive Director Polly Bronstein said: “We believe that it’s critical that the majority of Israelis who are concerned about the numerous security and socio-economic challenges we face have their voices heard in the next election. We need a prime minister and a government who will be responsive to the people.”
- Rabbis for Human Rights
- Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) is among the most politically active NGOs on the complex issues related to the Bedouin in the Negev. It is part of an ongoing campaign against what it deems the “crime” of evacuating Umm Al-Hiran, a village in which violent clashes took place opposing demolitions (approved by the Israeli High Court of Justice).
- RHR is listed as a partner by the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) sends volunteers for political indoctrination, including 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 June 2024, following the ICC Prosecutor announcement to seek arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, RHR published a joint report claiming, “The requested warrants against Netanyahu and Galant enumerate the crimes of starvation, extermination and deliberate attacks against civilian population. This is a far-reaching step, but an important and necessary one given the scale and severity of the crimes of which they are suspected. Though we regret the circumstances that led to this dire situation, we welcome the existence of international systems of justice and law and support the steps taken by them to intervene and to stop the occurrence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
- Sadaka Reut
- In contrast to its objectives, Sadaka Reut presents a highly polarizing and one-sided narrative of Palestinian victimization and Israeli guilt. Through its partnerships with groups that reject the legitimacy of Jewish sovereignty in Israel and repeatedly emphasize Israel’s alleged systematic discrimination and the “Nakba,” young participants are presented with a simplistic, biased and divisive perspective.
- Sikkuy
- Regularly accuses Israel of “racism” and presents views based on the Palestinian narrative of victimization, often completely omitting Israeli perspectives and legitimate national security concerns.
- Signatory to the Haifa Declaration, which calls for a “change in the definition of the State of Israel from a Jewish state” and accuses Israel of “exploiting” the Holocaust “at the expense of the Palestinian people.”
- Israel Social TV
- Standing Together
- Standing Together, a group founded to lead political activism, has been involved in a number of protests in Israel and the West Bank. The organization also organizes “alternative Memorial Day” commemorations, alongside Combatants for Peace. In April 2018, one of the group’s founders, Ye’ela Ra’anan, advocated for “eliminating the fascist regime in Israel.”
- Jahalin Solidarity
- In a November 25, 2020 Facebook post, Jahalin Solidarity wrote, “During the lame duck presidency of The Donald… Israel is ticking off its [suicidal] bucket list while hastening us to full-throated apartheid, away from democracy and its values.”
- On May 28, 2020, Jahalin Solidarity published an article arguing that “it seems that only the ICC can save Palestine. And Israel. Because apartheid will then become official, and Israeli democracy (already questionable as it applies to minority citizens inside Israel such as the Bedouin) a discriminatory political system when serving citizens or those under its rule, such as the 300,000 Palestinians in Area C.”
- In an October 2, 2018 article “Why Israel Demolishes: Khan Al-Ahmar as Representation of Greater Genocide,” Jahalin Solidarity wrote, “Coupled with the fact that nearly 200,000 Jerusalemites were driven out during the Nakba, the Catastrophe’ of 1948, and the ongoing slow ethnic cleansing, the Holy City has been in a constant state of destruction since the establishment of Israel…It is a question of the very survival of the Palestinian people, threatened by a racist state that has been allowed to ‘go wild’ for 70 years, untamed and without repercussions” (emphases added).
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Reports
U.S. funding continues to go to NGOs active in anti-Israel and BDS campaigns that directly contradict U.S. government support for peace in the region.
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