Overview

  • The Danish government funds numerous Israeli and Palestinian NGOs through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Representative Office in Ramallah, the NGO Development Center in Ramallah (NDC – joint funding with Sweden, Switzerland, and Netherlands), and indirectly by outsourcing to Danish aid organizations such as DanChurchAid.
  • Organizations receiving Danish funding lead campaigns and political activities that are inconsistent with government policies to promote peace and a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Many NGOs are centrally involved in the Durban Strategy of political warfare, which seeks to demonize and delegitimize the State of Israel.
  • Most Danish funding for Israeli and Palestinian NGOs is awarded through NDC. Recipients include: Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Miftah, Bimkom, and Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI). (See below)

Direct funding

  • Danish foreign aid is distributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Danish International Development Agency (Danida). Danida’s website offers a project and program database on Danida support to NGOs.
  • According to the Danish Embassy in Tel Aviv, Danida provided a total of DKK 5,200,000 to Israeli organizations in 2010 and a total of DKK 7,550,749 in 2011.
  • Direct funding recipients of Danida include Bimkom (DKK 500,000) and Palestinian Medical Relief Society (DKK 730,000).
  • Although the Danida funding database does not list PCHR as a recipient, PCHR includes the Royal Danish Representative Office in its 2012 Annual Report as one of its funders.
  • PCHR has tried to have cases brought against Israeli officials in England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, and New Zealand. The group has filed for punitive damages in the U.S. against companies doing business with Israel. In 2010, PCHR published “The Principle and Practice of Universal Jurisdiction: PCHR’s Work in the occupied Palestinian territory,” advancing allegations of Israel’s “violations of international humanitarian law,” “war crimes,” and “culture of pervasive impunity.” PCHR’s campaign has also focused on pursuing charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court, including meetings with ICC officials in Hague to “explore different avenues to bring justice to the victims of serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.”

NGO Development Center (NDC)

  • “The Human Rights and Good Governance Secretariat” (HR/GG), operated by the NGO Development Center (NDC) in Ramallah, distributes joint funds to Palestinian and Israeli NGOs on behalf of the governments of Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
  • The 2010-2013 Danish contribution to NDC is (DKK) 25,000,000.
  • Many of the NGOs funded in this framework are active in boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns, which attempt to isolate Israel internationally with the stated purpose of dismantling Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people; lawfare campaigns, which exploit international and national legal frameworks for politicized cases against Israeli officials and military personnel; and other forms of anti-Israel demonization, including examples of blatant antisemitism.

Palestinian NGO recipient via NDC

(Information from NDC’s 2012 annual report.)

NGOGrant (USD)Year
Miftah130,0002012
PCHR350,0002012
Al-Dameer130,0002012
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights210,0002012
The Institute of Law- Birzeit University90,9002013
Women's Affairs Technical Committee145,0002012

 

Israeli NGO recipients via NDC

(Information from NDC’s 2012 annual report and Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits)

NGOGrant (NIS)Year
Bimkom321,8472012
61,5792012
373,8602012
PCATI43,7272012
420,7602012
526,8522012
Hamoked419,5242012
564,0392012
B'Tselem495,9612013
95,1532012
483,5972012
358,1652012
74,7062012
Gisha159,3772012
212,7832012
ACRI36,7232013
205,2822013
151,8162012
241,3472012
Adalah75,7292012
23,7352012
107,2902012
Rabbis for Human Rights62,209 USD2012
Breaking the Silence77,500 USD2012

Indirect funding through DanChurchAid

  • DanChurchAid (DCA) is a large-scale recipient of Danish government funding. In 2012, DCA received DKK 198 million from the Danish government.
  • The organization claims to work for “peace and reconciliation” with “progressive forces within Israeli and Palestinian civil societies to reinforce democracy and respect for human rights, and to support efforts for sustainable peace and justice.”
  • DCA partners with radical political advocacy NGOs such as Badil and PCHR.
  • DCA joined with Badil to implement a “Call to Action,” which includes anti-Israel boycott and sanction campaigns; efforts to “[e]nlist journalists to organize a targeted campaign to expose the lies of AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League and to expose the Jewish and Zionist community’s double standards regarding Nakba & Occupation”; and enlisting the help of anti-Israel “Jewish” NGOs to “rais[e] awareness of the . . . right of return among the Jewish public in Israel.”
  • DCA funding for NGOs lacks transparency. The organization lists its Palestinian partner organizations, but does not provide funding details.

(Information from DCA website and Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits)

NGOGrant
B'TselemNIS 87,854 (2013)
NIS 366,508 (2013)
NIS 891,859 (2013)
NIS 6,132 (2013)
NIS 294,340 (2013)
BadilNot Disclosed
Applied Research Institute JerusalemNot Disclosed
Palestinian Center for Human RightsNot Disclosed
Sheikh Jarrah SolidarityNot Disclosed
Grassroots JerusalemNot Disclosed
Women's Affairs CenterNot Disclosed
APRODEVNot Disclosed