Activities

• In September 2024, following the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on the “legal consequences arising from Israel’s Policies and Practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, TDH called on “all governments, including the UN Security Council and its members, to adhere to the ICJ’s advisory opinion, including through the halting the transfer and sale of weapons, parts and ammunition.”
• In June 2024, TDH published a “manifesto” referring to the “massacre of the Palestinian people”and calling on the Swiss Federal Council and Parliament to “Enforce a halt to the sale, transfer, and diversion of arms, ammunition, and other military equipment to Israel.”
• In April 2024, TDH was a signatory on an open call to all UN Member States to “immediately halt the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups while there is risk they are used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.”
• In March 2018, TdH released a documentary video titled “GazaReal” illustrating “an immersive experience of what life is really like in Gaza with its challenges and potential.” The video placed sole blame on Israel and the blockade for the continuation of the conflict, while altogether omitting that the blockade was implemented in an effort to stop Palestinian terrorists from smuggling weapons and rockets into Gaza that would later be used to target Israeli civilians.
  • The video was funded by the European Union.
• TdH endorsed the 2016 Woman’s Boat to Gaza, which attempted to break the blockade around Gaza and instigate a confrontation with the Israeli Navy.
• Signatory to the April 2015 Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) joint agency briefing paper “Charting a New Course: Overcoming the Stalemate in Gaza,” misrepresenting international law and distorting legal terminology to place primary blame for the 2014 Gaza war on Israel. The paper omits Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, as well as terror tunnels running beneath the border into Israel. The paper further encourages contact with Hamas, stating: “Restricted contact can undermine humanitarian access and implementation of humanitarian programmes…”
• In August 2015, TDH Italy was a signatory on a joint call “urging world leaders to press the Israeli government to lift the blockade on Gaza and remove the restrictions on basic building materials needed to reconstruct the coastal strip,” as “there can never be justification for collective punishment of an entire population.”
• In July 2015, TDH Italy and Oxfam Italy signed a letter to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi calling on the Italian government to “exact compliance on Israel with international law and humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory and end the blockade on Gaza, which constitutes collective punishment in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
• In December 2014, TDH signed a statement of “solidarity with women in Gaza,” calling on the “Government of Israel to end its military occupation, which continues to impede upon the fundamental rights of all Palestinians in Gaza.”
• In December 2013, TDH was a signatory on a statement denouncing Israeli home demolitions as they “facilitate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and the destruction of civilian property is a violation of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law.”
• On November 19, 2012, issued a joint statement with 44 other highly politicized organizations, calling on the international community to “apply immediate pressure on the government of Israel” and warning of a “widespread humanitarian disaster in Gaza brought on by a prolonged [Israeli] military occupation.”
• In November 2011, TDH took part in an anti-weapon campaign that lobbied the Members of Parliament of the Christian Democrat party to disrupt Germany’s arms trade with Israel and other states accused of not respecting international humanitarian standards. This campaign was conducted in cooperation with other NGOs including Human Rights Watch, Bread for the World-EED, SODI (Solidarität Dienst), Oxfam Germany, Caritas, Kritische Aktionäre, and Facing Finance.

Troubling Partnerships

• In 2021-2023, TDH granted $330,000 to the Abdel Shafi Community Health Association for the “improvement and protection of women and girls from socially isolated and disabled women, cancer patients and those with chronic diseases.”
  • ACHA was founded and is directed by senior members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Other employees have demonstrated support for Palestinian terror groups and their actions. On multiple occasions, ACHA facilities were used by the PFLP to hold events.
• TDH partners with Addameer for an ongoing campaign “documenting and providing legal support to Palestinian children of East Jerusalem.” The campaign makes numerous false and misleading claims about the IDF and Israeli military courts and relies on an inaccurate March 2013 UNICEF report that alleged “widespread, systematic and institutionalized” ill-treatment of children within the system. (Read NGO Monitor’s report “No Way to Represent a Child: Defense for Children International Palestine’s Distortions of the Israeli Justice System.”)
  • Addameer is a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) “affiliate.” The PFLP is a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.
• In August 2021, TdH organized a summer camp with the Burj Al-Luqluq Social Center Society. According to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an NGO that reports on incitement, Burj al Laqlaq has a long history of promoting violent messages. For instance, “[in 2012] the Burj Luq-Luq Social Center Society organization performed a puppet show for children in East Jerusalem to promote non-smoking. The educational message delivered by the puppets instructed children to replace cigarettes with machine guns.” According to PMW, Burj Luq-Luq hosted a 2014 soccer tournament named for PLO terrorist Abu Jihad and organized a tournament named for Ibrahim Al-Akari, who murdered two Israeli civilians in a November 2014 attack in Jerusalem.