European governments directly and indirectly provide upwards of $125 million annually to political advocacy NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict. In turn, these NGOs inform EU policy, to the detriment of European policy-making. Many of the funding processes are secretive, lacking transparency and accountability.
According to NGO Monitor research, data clearly expose the false EU claim that the funding for Israeli political NGOs is not unique or disproportionate in comparison to the United States.
The EU´s decision to label products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights was heavily influenced by highly politicized NGOs, many of which are deeply involved in BDS and working against two-state peace models.
Many highly politicized NGOs that are funded by the IHL Scretariat (composed of Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands) have issued problematic statements regarding the recent wave of terror, which ignore attacks against civilians and Israel's right to self-defense.
Two Israeli NGOs, BTselem and Adalah, have been nominated to receive the annual Human Rights Tulip prize, awarded by the Dutch government. These NGOs have far larger budgets than many of the other nominees, and already receive significant donations from foreign, and specifically Dutch, sources.
The IHL Secretariat (Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands) has released its 2015- 2016 budget, providing funds to NGOs involved in BDS and lawfare, with a focus on Jerusalem.
The 2014 Annual Report of the IHL Secretariat brings to light the fundamental problems with its funding mechanism, including support for political warfare against Israel and very limited focus on alleged violations by Palestinians.
While there are widely divergent narratives regarding the village and history of Susiya, many EU-funded NGOs have been active lobbying the Israeli government to prevent the demolition, promoting the Palestinian narrative of victimization.
While the 2014 European Neighborhood Policy Report shows a number of improvements over previous reports, these changes are overshadowed by the EUs continuing dependence on material provided by a narrow group of highly biased political advocacy NGOs.
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