Rights Forum

Profile

Country/TerritoryNetherlands
Websitehttp://www.rightsforum.org/english
FoundedDecember 2009 by former Dutch Prime Minister Andreas van Agt.
In their own wordsA “knowledge center on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and as a network of previous ministers and jurists that are committed to a solution of the conflict based on international law.”

Funding

  • The Rights Forum does not release financial details or donation amounts, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability.
  • According to information released by donors, Rockefeller Brothers Fund is providing $100,000 to the Rights Forum in 2023-2025.

Activities

  • Rights Forum is a Dutch organization, established by former Dutch Prime Minister Andreas van Agt, which describes itself as a “knowledge center on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and as a network of previous ministers and jurists that are committed to a solution of the conflict based on international law.” Claims that it was created in response to alleged “unwavering” Dutch support for alleged Israeli violations of international law. It lobbies the Dutch government and the EU to promote the Palestinian agenda.
  • According to its website, the Forum “monitor[s] Dutch politics and reveal[s] what positions politicians take regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” and “record[s] violations of international law which the parties commit and report on these.”
  • Lobbies government officials, engages in “fact-finding missions,” sends briefings to the Dutch parliament alleging Israeli violations of human rights, publishes reports, and attempts to influence Dutch and EU policy.
  • Website provides inaccurate information on issues such as “Palestinian water problems,” “Violence,” refugees, and Gaza.
  • In 2019, the Rights Forum and the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) launched the European Legal Support Center, an initiative aimed at “defending individuals and organizations that face false and defamatory accusations of antisemitism and repression because of their support for Palestinian rights and particularly for BDS measures to achieve these rights.”

Political Advocacy

  • In October 2024, the Rights Forum accused Israel of “bloodbaths” and “ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza.” 
  • In October 2024, the Rights Forum published an article titled, “How Israeli Propaganda Swept the World After ‘October 7’,” sharing research that alleged, “In reality, one baby died on October 7.” 
    • On October 7, 2023, thousands of Palestinian terrorists poured across the border from Gaza into Israel, slaughtering 1200 people, torturing and maiming thousands, including 36 children who were slaughtered in their homes. Babies and toddlers were found butchered, decapitated, and even burned alive in the remnants of the various Israeli kibbutzim.
  • In October 2023, in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas attack on October 7, the Rights Forum published a statement: “With an attack from the Gaza Strip that was as sensational as it was brutal, the Palestinian Hamas movement caused a stir worldwide this weekend. It broke the stifling Israeli blockade that has turned Gaza into what has come to be called ‘the largest open-air prison in the world’ for 16 years.’”
  • In February 2023, the Rights Forum published an article claiming that “The ‘IHRA definition of anti-Semitism’ is not a definition, but a political weapon.” According to the Rights Forum, “The ‘IHRA definition of anti-Semitism’ is mainly used to suppress Israel-critical voices… The destructive definition belongs on the scrap heap.”
    • In November 2018, the Rights Forum referred to the IHRA definition as a “political instrument to suppress criticism of Israel’s Palestinian politics as ‘anti-Semitic’. The definition serves not so much the protection of Jews, but above all that of Israel’s policy of occupation, colonization and domination.”
    • The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, adopted by nearly 30 countries and counting, represents the international consensus definition of antisemitism, as well as how to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism. An example of the latter includes denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
  • In January 2023, following a terrorist attack that killed seven Israeli civilians outside a Jerusalem synagogue, the Rights Forum published a statement denying that the murder of Jews at a synagogue constituted antisemitism. According to the Rights Forum, “The attack in Jerusalem is rightly condemned from many quarters, including by the Dutch ambassador in Tel Aviv. Violence against civilians is in all cases reprehensible. However, the ambassador goes too far by speaking of an ‘anti-Semitic attack’. There is no indication whatsoever of an anti-Semitic motive, and in the current highly volatile climate in Israel/Palestine, such framing is irresponsible.”
  • In August 2022, the Rights Forum signed a joint statement condemning the decision by the Israeli Ministry to designate six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. The statement called for the international community to “take effective measures to end all other actions that deny Palestinians their inalienable human rights” and to “their support and increase funding to the organizations and engage with financial institutions to ensure the transfer of funds to the organizations.”
  • In May 2021, the Rights Forum published an article titled “Apartheid, made possible by the Netherlands.” According to the article, “Israel commits crimes against humanity, and the Netherlands is partly to blame… The Netherlands and many other countries continue to strengthen ties with Israel, and watch with arms folded as it violates the fundamental rights of millions of Palestinians in often extremely violent ways, generation after generation.”
  • In May 2021, the Rights Forum shared an article on its website titled “Can you call Israel’s population policy ‘ethnic cleansing’?” According to the article, “Some apparently doubt that this would have actually happened, and are apparently unaware of the large-scale ethnic cleansing that has taken place in Palestine and later Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
  • In June 2020, the Rights Forum posted an article commemorating the death of Razan al-Najjar. The Rights Forum repeated the unfounded claim that a 21-year-old female medical volunteer, Razan Najjar, was intentionally killed by an Israeli sniper. The Rights Forum ignored that an extensive New York Times article examining the case concluded that Najjar was accidentally killed by shrapnel from a ricocheting bullet.
  • In May 2019, the Rights Forum hosted UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in the Palestinian Territories Michael Lynk to discuss “Human Rights and Doing Business Under Occupation.”
  • In 2019, the Rights Forum launched a petition titled “Don’t let Israel get away with excessive violence in Gaza!” According to the petition, “Israeli military personnel violated international humanitarian law and universal human rights by firing live ammunition at Palestinian demonstrators” and the government of Netherlands must “suspend any form of cooperation and exchange of knowledge with the Israeli military, police and / or security forces.” The petition ignored the violent nature of the protests, which have consisted of an organized armed attack on the Israeli border and IDF positions, attempts to destroy and breach the border fence, and sustained arson, rocket, and mortar attacks on Israeli civilian communities.
  • In October 2017, The Rights Forum used the word “razzia” to describe the arrests of terror suspects by Israel.
  • In October 2017, the Rights Forum claimed that the Israeli army locks children into cages, based on unverified allegations made by Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT).
  • In July 2017, the Rights Forum launched a campaign calling for “Freedom for Khalida Jarrar and Khitam Sa’afin.”
  • Supported the July 2017 UNESCO recognition of Hebron as “Palestine on the World Heritage site” denying a formal Jewish connection to the city. In its statement, Rights Forum also praised a previous UNESCO resolution that denies any historical Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and Old City of Jerusalem.
  • Claimed the “world continues to passively watch the suffering Palestinians [in Gaza] because it is finally empty of Jews” (June 2017).
  • Criticized the European Parliament in May 2017 for calling on Member States to “adopt and apply” the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, claiming that it will “politicize the fight against anti-Semitism and threatens freedom of expression.”
  • Launched a media campaign during Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to the Netherlands in September 2016, including calls for Netanyahu’s prosecution at the ICC.

Lawfare

  • The Rights Forum has lobbied for ICC investigations into Israel
    • In October 2023, the Rights Forum was a signatory on a letter to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan to “Issue Arrest Warrants, Investigate Israeli Crimes and Intervene to Deter Incitement to Commit Genocide in Gaza.”
    • On November 28, 2022, the Rights Forum and 197 other regional and international civil society organizations sent an open letter to the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan urging him to “Investigate and Deter Israel’s Apartheid Regime.” According to the letter, “Though mindful of the Court’s limited resources and budgetary complications, as well as your office workload and challenges, we are compelled to stress that Palestinian victims deserve justice and require equal attention as in other situations…we will continue our cooperation with your office and our support of your investigation into the Situation in the State of Palestine.”
    • In September 2022, as a member of the Don’t Buy Into Occupation campaign, jointly published a report calling on European governments to “Fully cooperate with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), in line with relevant obligations set forth in the Rome Statute and the Geneva Conventions; and express public support for the independence of the Court in its investigation into the Situation in Palestine, which could encompass private and corporate actors.”
    • In March 2021, the Rights Forum Director Gerard Jonkman celebrated the ICC’s decision on territorial jurisdiction over Palestine stating, “War crimes cannot go unpunished…it is crucial that perpetrators are held accountable and brought to justice. And that the victims of the crimes, in this case mainly Palestinians, but also Israelis, receive satisfaction.”
    • In November 2019, the Rights Forum signed a letter to Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda, calling to open “an official, full-scale investigation into the ‘situation in Palestine’” and the “possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed” as the “absence of an official investigation…has fuelled the already existing culture of impunity.”
    • In September 2018, the Rights Forum was a signatory on a letter to ICC Prosecutor Bensouda calling to open an investigation as the “situation in Palestine is rapidly deteriorating and war crimes and crimes against humanity are allegedly frequently committed to entrench Israeli control over Palestinian territory and the Palestinian people” and there is a need to “prosecute and convict perpetrators, including high-level officials of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
  • In November 2023, the Rights Forum, alongside Oxfam Novib, PAX, and Amnesty International, sued the Netherlands in an attempt to stop “export arms to Israel” and demanding “the immediate cessation of the supply of parts for Israeli F35 fighter planes.” 
    • A Dutch court rejected the lawsuit, noting that the government “‘weighed the relevant interests’ before agreeing to the delivery of parts.” It stated that the “Dutch government [has] a large degree of freedom when it comes to weighing political and policy issues in deciding on arms exports.” In February 2024, the Dutch Court of Appeal reversed the lower court. 
    • In May 2024, the NGOs started summary proceedings against the Netherlands, claiming the “state did not correctly implement the previous ruling by not stopping all export and transit of F-35 components with a possible final destination of Israel.” In July 2024, the judge rejected the case, claiming that “it was unclear whether the earlier ruling only covered direct deliveries from the Netherlands or also deliveries via other countries, such as the United States. This ruling means that deliveries via the United States will not be stopped.”
    • On September 6, 2024, the Supreme Court held a hearing to assess whether the Court’s ruling will stand and whether the Netherlands may resume the export of F-35 components to Israel. As of January 29, 2025, the Court has still not provided a ruling.
  • In November 2023, the Rights Forum, alongside European Legal Support Center (ELSC), Al-Haq, and SOMO, filed a criminal complaint with the Dutch Public Prosecutor accusing Booking.com of “laundering funds obtained from the commission of war crimes” and being “instrumental in facilitating the criminal Israeli settlement enterprise.” In May 2024, Booking.com rejected the allegations and affirmed, “we will permit listings anywhere in the world unless legally prohibited by the domestic laws…Currently, there are no applicable laws that prohibit listing properties in Israeli Settlements in the West Bank.” In December 2024, the NGOs submitted “new evidence” to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, claiming that “By providing financial backing to settlers and their enterprises, we believe the company is furthering the displacement of Palestinians and solidifying settlement expansion.”
  • In June 2017, attorney and board member Liesbeth Zegveld attempted to file a civil lawsuit in a Dutch court against former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and Israel Air Force Commander Amir Eshel, accusing them of war crimes.
  • In 2010, Zegveld filed a criminal complaint against the Dutch corporation Riwal, alleging its complicit[y] in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity through its construction of the Annexation Wall, ‘the Wall,’ and illegal settlements in the Occupied West Bank.” The complaint was brought on behalf of the radical anti-Israel NGO Al-Haq.

BDS Activities

  • Refers to the BDS (boycott divestment and sanctions) campaign as the correct measure to target Israel: “Only with heavy economic and political pressure on Israel, also from Netherlands, will stir the Netanyahu government to strike its construction and expansion of settlements.”
  • Campaigns against Israel under the guise of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by erroneously claiming that doing business and investing in companies with holdings over the 1949 Armistice Line is illegal, despite international laws and domestic court decisions stating otherwise.
  • In July 2024, the Rights Forum called for the Dutch government to “immediately end any form of support for Israel’s illegal presence in occupied territory. For example, trade with Israeli colonies must be prohibited, as well as cooperation with the military regime with which Israel enforces its illegal presence. Companies and institutions – such as banks, pension funds and universities – must also end their activities and relationships to the extent that they contribute to the illegal situation.”
  • In June 2024, the Rights Forum published a report titled, “The companies arming Israel and their financiers, focusing on “the relationships between European financial institutions and companies supplying arms to Israel.” According to the Rights Forum, “By selling arms to Israel, arms companies run a high risk of facilitating ongoing severe violations of international humanitarian law…The unprecedented attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023 and the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) provisional measures order of 26 January 2024 determining there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza make it even more urgent for arms companies to stop their supplies to Israel and for financial institutions to stop financing companies that continue to supply arms to Israel.”
  • In April 2024, the Rights Forum 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 November 2023, the Rights Forum 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 September 2022, the Rights Forum was a signatory on a letter to the European Union to “review its decision to revive the Association Council Meeting, stop the recently signed gas deal and review its bilateral cooperation programmes.” According to the call, “Instead of allowing Israel to entrench its colonial enterprise and apartheid regime, rewarding it with further economic cooperation and trade of harmful military equipment and technologies, the EU and its Member States have an obligation, and interest, to hold Israel accountable and put an end to impunity.”
  • In February 2022, the Rights Forum participated in a campaign titled “#StopTradeWithSettlements” calling “for an EU law that will end trade with illegal settlements once and for all.”
  • In January 2022, the Rights Forum submitted a formal request to Dutch universities seeking documents or information on “Institutional ties with Israeli universities, institutions and businesses and with organizations that propagate support for the State of Israel,” including Dutch Jewish groups; following criticism of the antisemitic overtones, the universities refused to comply with the request.
  • In September 2021, the Rights Forum participated in a campaign titled “Don’t Buy into Occupation Coalition.” As part of the campaign, the coalition of NGOs published a report alleging to “investigate and expose the financial relationships between businesses involved in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and European Financial Institutions (FIs).” The report called for European governments to “prohibit the import of illegal settlement products and services from entering European markets, and ban trade with and economic support for illegal Israeli settlements.”
  • In September 2020, the Rights Forum called for the UN General Assembly to “Launch international investigations into Israel’s apartheid regime over the Palestinian people as a whole, as well as associated State and individual criminal responsibility,” to “Ban arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel,” and “Prohibit all trade with illegal Israeli settlements and ensure that companies refrain from and terminate business activities with Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.”
  • In June 2020, the Rights Forum,  alongside Oxfam Novib and PAX, hosted a webinar on “understanding business activities related to illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a major human rights problem, and presenting ways to end the complicity of Dutch/European economic and political actors with the settlement economy.” The webinar endorsed the discriminatory UN database of businesses operating across the 1949 Armistice line, aimed at bolstering BDS campaigns against Israel.
  • In 2019, the Rights Forum lobbied in support of the discriminatory UN database of businesses operating across the 1949 Armistice line, aimed at bolstering BDS campaigns against Israel.
  • In November 2019, the Rights Forum supported the decision of the European Court of Justice to apply a discriminatory labelling regime on products originating in the Israeli settlements as a first step: “consumer gains are overshadowed by the fact that labeling legitimizes an illegal practice. Only a ban on trade with the settlements can put an end to that practice.”
  • In April 2018, the Rights Forum was a signatory on a letter to the Hague calling to “break any form of cooperation with Israel’s arms and security industry.”
  • In October 2017, the Rights Forum claimed that Dutch pension funds ABP and PFZW were involved in a “war crime” through investments in Israeli companies.
  • In June 2017, the Rights Forum called for the EU to suspend legal cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Public Security.

European Legal Support Center (ELSC)

Key People

  • Founder and honorary chairman of Rights Forum, Dutch Prime Minister Andreas van Agt .
    • Van Agt maintains that “Europe owes a special debt to the Palestinians because they are the victims of victims of the Holocaust.” He also argues that “The European and Dutch boycott of Hamas is wrong and even stupid…We automatically pardon the occupier and sanction the occupied nation.”
    • Van Agt also blamed Israel for the lack of democracy in the Arab world.
  • Martin Siepermann, director of The Rights Forum until end of 2016, and political advisor of The Rights Forum in 2017, previously worked as Middle East project officer at Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO).
    • In 2012, Siepermann participated in a parliamentary debate on Dutch policy towards Israel stating, “Israel is never held accountable and never put under pressure to end its systematic and serious human rights violations or to substantially reduce it.”
    • In 2006, Siepermann wrote an article accusing the Dutch company Lima Holding BV of involvement “in the construction of the illegal Wall that Israel is building.”
  • Members of the board maintain close connections to anti-Israel NGOs, including Sabeel, Al-Haq, and ICCO. These groups support BDS campaigns, deny the Jewish people’s connections to Israel, and support legal attacks (“lawfare”) against Israel.
  • Advisory board member Jan Pronk was the previous Chairman of IKV (The Interchurch Peace Summit), now known as IKV Pax Christi. Pronk was a guest speaker at the “Hour of Truth,” a conference aimed at promoting the Kairos Palestine document. He has publicly supported the Kairos Palestine Document, which calls for BDS against Israel, denies the Jewish historical connection to Israel in theological terms, and blames Israel solely for the continuation of the conflict. Its purpose is to rally churches globally to support BDS, delegitimization, and demonization directed at the State of Israel.
  • Advisory board member John Dugard has spearheaded many initiatives singling out Israel.
    • In 2009, he was responsible for a report funded by the South African government claiming to prove that Israel is an “apartheid” and “colonial” state. The report advocated the imposition of sanctions on Israel and called for another ICJ advisory opinion to find that Israel was engaging in the crimes of apartheid and colonialism.
    • As the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, he was criticized for promoting a so-called “right of resistance.”
  • Board member Mouin Rabbani was formerly employed by the Palestinian NGO Al-Haq, a global leader in anti-Israel “lawfare” and BDS. Advisory board member Hans van den Broek is the former Foreign Minister of the Netherlands and former EU Commissioner for Foreign Relations.
  • Van Den Broek was involved in organizing the 2012 NGO report “Trading Away Peace,” which called for economic sanctions against Israel and other forms of political warfare. In the introduction, van den Broek stated that the “decisive” factor for the stagnation in the peace process is “Israel’s incessant settlement policy in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
  • In addition, many board members have spoken at conferences and gatherings organized by radical organizations, including Sabeel, which is very active in promoting efforts to gain support of Christian churches for BDS campaign. Sabeel supports a “one state,” framework, meaning the end of Israel as a Jewish state, and employs antisemitic themes and imagery in its political attacks against Israel.

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