Over €115M to NGOs in Arab-Israeli Conflict in 2015

NGO Monitor estimates that European governments – directly through governmental mechanisms, and indirectly via church and other humanitarian groups – and UN agencies contribute over €100 million to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in the Arab-Israeli conflict. This includes Israeli, Palestinian, and European groups that are, to varying degrees, active in political campaigns that target the State of Israel.

To demonstrate the basis for this estimate, NGO Monitor researchers prepared the attached table with available numbers from 2015, the most recent year with the most comprehensive date. The table presents €117,223,442 in known funding that originated with European taxpayers and/or UN agencies.

Where possible, NGO Monitor compiled information provided by the funding governments. With a handful of exceptions, however, most governments do not provide a centralized, comprehensive list of their grants to NGOs. Therefore, NGO Monitor researchers meticulously examined official documents from both donors and NGO grantees, including audited financial statements and submissions to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits.

Particular care was taken to remove instances of overlap or doubling of reports. For instance, the €12.9 million euro spent in Palestinian areas by Norwegian Refuge Council is not included in the numbers listed for the UK, EU, Norway, Switzerland, Spain, and Belgium (the funders for this NGO). Similarly, information from an NGO was only used when there was no corresponding data from the funder.

NGO Monitor is aware of many governmental grants to NGOs where, due to a lack of transparency on the part of donors and recipients, the amount provided is undisclosed. For example, all of the largest and most well-known Palestinian human rights NGOs (PCHR, Al Haq, Al Mezan) list on their website European governments as supporters, but none publishes audited financial statements or amounts. Such funding is not included in the table.

In addition, many European NGOs, which receive government funds and are active in advocacy and other public campaigns targeting Israel, do not disclose their budgets for such activity. A (very) partial list: FIDH, LDH, La Cimade, MRAP, Christian Aid, War on Want, Kerk in Actie, Kurve Wustrow, Diakonie. These, too, are not included in the table.