Campaigns of Demonization
As part of the “Durban Strategy” to isolate Israel, NGOs level accusations of systematic Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights. The NGO allegations are characterized by factual and legal distortions, in pursuit of an anti-human rights agenda.
There is a growing debate over Palestinian casualty claims. While the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the Palestinian Ministry of Health have announced that the majority of fatalities were civilians, the IDF has estimated that more than two-thirds of [the deaths] were Hamas members. PCHRs anti-Israel campaigning during war includes accusations of Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, human holocaust, collective punishment, indiscriminate killing and continued systematic destruction of all the Palestinian institutions and civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip.
Topics
Since December 27, 2008, Amnesty International and its worldwide branches have released numerous statements on Gaza. These are primarily critical of Israel and use the rhetoric of international humanitarian law in a consistently biased manner. Amnesty accuses Israel of "unlawful," "disproportionate," and "indiscriminate" attacks against Palestinian civilians. Amnesty largely ignores the well-documented commandeering of civilian infrastructure and widespread use of human shields by Hamas. These accusations are similar to Amnestys false claims against Israel made during the Second Lebanon War.
Topics
35 NGOs claiming to promote human rights and humanitarian agendas have issued more than 132 statements on the fighting so far. These reports are a central part of the soft power war being waged against Israel, in parallel to the hard power rocket and terror attacks. NGO Monitors series entitled, The NGO Front, will focus daily on different organizations, beginning with an analysis of Oxfams role.
Topics
[UPDATED] Following the pattern in previous conflicts, a number of NGOs immediately issued condemnations of Israel following the IDF response to increasing deadly rocket attacks from Gaza. Many of these statements reflect bias and double standards, and ignore or give little attention to Israeli human rights and casualties. NGOs exploit legal terminology, including terms such as "war crimes," "collective punishment," and "indiscriminate attacks." Some use the fighting in Gaza to repeat calls for boycotts and sanctions as part of the Durban strategy, and accuse Israel of perpetrating a "massacre."
Topics
Through the use of holiday and religious symbols, NGOs such as War on Want, Amos Trust, and Pax Christi are manipulating Christmas to advance a political agenda, and in some cases, may be promoting antisemitic canards. NGOs also organized an event entitled, "Bethlehem Now: Nine Alternative Lessons and Carols for Palestine"; the tendentious lyrics and themes of the event led to strong condemnations from Christian and Jewish community leaders. War on Wants "Alternative Gift" of donations to the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Coalition supports the boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.
Topics
