Adalah Staffer Arrested Upon Return from Lebanon
Background
- Early Sunday morning, April 13, 2014, Adalah claimed, on its Facebook page, that “Israeli police arrested journalist Majd Kayyal, a web editor at Adalah… Kayyal was returning from a conference he independently attended to mark the 40th anniversary of the ‘As-Safir’ newspaper in Beirut, Lebanon.” (On Sunday morning, Adalah posted an updated that “Majd Kayyal has arrived at the Haifa Magistrate’s court. It is expected that the court’s session will begin shortly considering the police’s request to extend his remand.”)
- As-Safir reportedly maintains close connections to Hezbollah and has a pro-Syrian stance.
- Majd Kayyal actively participated in the 2011 flotilla to disrupt the blockade of Gaza. In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv, Kayyal said he participated because “they (Gazans) are part of the Palestinian nation, which I am part of… Only such a struggle will solve the problem, not a peace agreement on paper or negotiations with Abu-Mazen. Neither the security issue nor the borders will bring peace. It’s all bullshit… the idea of two-states will not hold…”
- In addition to working with Adalah, Kayyal also edits a cultural website, Qadita, and a blog, Message to the Tricontinental. The first post on the blog is a video of a Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror training camp.
Foreign government funding for Adalah
The massive support by foreign governments for Adalah, which employs and supports a radical anti-Israeli activist, demonstrates the inability of foreign government funders to provide effective oversight and accountability for the funds provided to groups that claim to promote human rights.
- Based on financial information submitted to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits, in accordance with the Israeli NGO transparency law, Adalah received NIS 1,948,459 from foreign governmental bodies in 2012. (As of April 10, 2014, Adalah has not submitted 2013 quarterly financial reports to the Registrar.)
- According to the EU Delegation to Israel website, the EU authorized Adalah a €717,994 grant (80% of total) between the years 2013-2016, in order to “combat and prevent torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli prisons and detention centers and Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
- Donors include the European Union, Switzerland, Germany (via EED and Medico International), Spain (via ACSUR), Secretariat (joint funding of Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands), UN Development Programme (UNDP), New Israel Fund, Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, Oxfam-Novib, Christian Aid, and Broederlijk Delen (Belgium).
- In 2008-2012, the New Israel Fund (NIF) authorized grants worth $1,602,686 to Adalah (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012).
- According Adalah’s latest available annual report (2011), it spent 86,256 NIS on “Communication, Internet and advertising.”