NGO Atrocity Inversion: False Accusations of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing to Distract from Hamas Massacre
On October 7, Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups perpetrated the world’s deadliest one-day massacre in more than 20 years. The horrific murder, torture, rape, desecration of bodies, and kidnapping of civilians revealed the depravity and evil of Hamas, as well as those who celebrated and justified the slaughter.
This posed a challenge for the network of anti-Israel NGOs, many funded by European governments, that try to paint Israel as the worst violator of human rights in the world. In the aftermath of the brutal pogrom, how could Israel continue to be portrayed as worse than Hamas?
The solution of these NGOs is to repeat the accusations that Israel is guilty of even more outrageous and extreme international crimes: genocide and ethnic cleansing. The only way to make Israel look worse than Hamas was to allege that it was acting to “eradicate the Palestinian people.”
This atrocity inversion – whereby the real crimes of Hamas are projected onto Israel – is a central piece of the demonization campaign, and will play a key role as NGOs and their allies push the UN and ICC to investigate and indict Israelis.
Examples of NGO Atrocity Inversion
European Government Funded NGOs linked to the PFLP terror organization
Additional European government funded NGOs
International NGOs
NGOs Funded by Private Foundations
Non-Transparent NGOs
United Nations
NGOs linked to the PFLP terror organization
Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P) (Funded by Sweden, Germany, Norway, Spain, Belgium)
- On October 13, DCI-P published a report accusing Israel of “Genocide in Gaza.” The report claimed “this is now a campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people.”
- See also statement on website
Al-Haq/Al Mezan/Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) (Funded by Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, EU, Norway, Netherlands, France, Denmark, UN agencies)
- On October 15, Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and PCHR published a statement on twitter claiming that “Palestinians are facing an impending genocide.”
- See also Twitter and statement on website
Al-Haq (Funded by Sweden, Germany, France, Denmark, UN agencies)
- On October 11, Al-Haq tweeted, “For the fifth day, the occupation forces continue to launch their attacks on the #Gaza Strip… in such a way that amounts to acts of genocide” (translated from the original Arabic).
- See also Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter and Twitter
Al Mezan (Funded by Sweden, EU, Netherlands)
- On October 9, Al Mezan tweeted, “This statement, that includes genocidal language, appears as an admission of intent to commit war crimes and other grave international crimes against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.”
Al-Dameer (Funded by EU, Switzerland)
- On Octo (ber 12, Al-Dameer issued a statement calling on, “all free peoples in the world to demand from their governments to pressure the Israeli occupation to stop the massacres and crimes of genocide against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip… Al-Dameer emphasizes that targeting and killing civilians ‘genocide’.. is a crime and a clear and blatant violation against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.”
Bisan (Funded by EU, Spain, Belgium, Germany)
- On October 13, Bisan Executive Director Ubai Aboudi tweeted, “This is ethnic cleansing. This is a second Nakba. Palestinians will not allow for a second Nakba. #Stop_Genocide.”
- See also Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter and Twitter
Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) (Funded by EU, Italy, Switzerland)
- On October 17, PNGO tweeted, “It is imperative that the global community unites to condemn actions that constitute violations of international humanitarian law, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. #GAZAUNDERATTACK #GENOCIDE #ETHNICCLEANSING”
- See also Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter and Twitter
Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) (Funded by EU, Netherlands, France, Norway, Germany)
- On October 13, UAWC’s head of the Gaza Fisherman Committee Zakaria Bakr posted on Facebook, “We are living through an action of ethnic cleansing and genocide.”
- See also statement on website
Additional European government funded NGOs
Adalah (Funded by Switzerland, Germany, Belgium)
- On October 11, Adalah posted a statement claiming, “The extremist, racist Israeli government is using the attacks by Palestinian militants as a pretext to launch illegal attacks and commit war crimes toward ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Al-Shabaka (Funded by Switzerland)
- On October 15, Al-Shabaka tweeted, “.. The Israeli military is ordering over one million Palestinian civilians to flee their homes. This is genocide & ethnic cleansing.”
- See also Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Al Jazeera article, Jacobin article, and Intercept article
Al Quds Association (Funded by Spain)
- On October 9, Al Quds Association published a statement by Red Solidaria Contra la Ocupación de Palestina: “ The end of violence requires the end of Israeli apartheid and its ethnic cleansing that has continued for 75 years. The Israeli colonial regime was founded and is maintained through war crimes and crimes against humanity” (translated from the original Spanish).
Association Belgo-Palestinienne (ABP) (Funded by Belgium)
- On October 14, ABP tweeted, “Neither its actions nor its words allow us to doubt it: Israel is not waging this war to destroy Hamas, but Gazan society as a whole. A crime against humanity perpetrated with the blessing of the EU. #Shame #NotInOurName #Gazagenocide” (translated from the original French).
- See also Twitter, Twitter and Twitter
BADIL (Funded by Sweden, Spain, Germany)
- On October 13, BADIL sent a letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres claiming, “Therefore, the Israeli colonial-apartheid regime and the countries supporting it in the genocide of our people must cease their crimes.”
- See also Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, and Twitter, Twitter , Twitter and Twitter
Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) (Funded by France, Italy, EU, Sweden, Germany)
- On October 15, PMRS President Mustafa Barghouti claimed, “Israel, with full support from the US and unfortunate backing from western countries, is committing four dangerous actions against the Palestinian people: Dehumanizing Palestinians, collective punishment, ethnic cleansing and genocide.
- See also statement on website, Facebook, Twitter, media appearance, Twitter, Facebook, and Facebook
Sabeel Ecumenical Centre (Funded by Sweden)
- On October 11, Sabeel published a statement claiming, “Responding, the Israeli government has engaged in airstrikes, indiscriminate bombing campaigns, and responsive actions that amount to war crimes-accompanied by genocidal rhetoric-against the civilian population in Gaza.”
Zochrot (Funded by Germany, Switzerland)
- On October 19, Zochrot posted on Facebook claiming that, “Israeli officials and many, too many, in the Israeli public, continue to demand more blood, calling for ethnic cleansing, calling for genocide and ‘a second Nakba’ – and the caravans of Palestinians fleeing south, being bombed, the bodies being pulled out of rubbles, show it to be a plan, not just threat. So we have to remind ourselves and everyone that the Nakba never ended; that everything we see stems from the creation of the Gaza strip as a ‘ghetto’ full of refugees, ethnically cleansed to create the state of Israel.”
- See also Instagram
Joint statement by Al-Haq/ Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC)/ The Public Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) / The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy – MIFTAH/ Palestine Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR)/ Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)/ Bisan Center for Research and Development/ Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC)/ The Jerusalem Human Rights Consortium (Funded by Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, EU, Norway, Netherlands, France, Denmark, UN agencies)
- On October 17, 9 NGOs submitted recommendations for the European Parliament Motion for a Resolution on Palestine. The joint letter claimed, “The deliberate failure of the international community to hold Israel responsible for its 56-year illegal occupation and aggression on the Palestinian territory, and its impunity over decades for its international crimes, including apartheid, has culminated in this week of horrific violence, war crimes and incitement to genocide.”
Joint statement by Al Mezan/BDS Movement/Bisan/MIFTAH/Al-Haq/Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)/Health Work Committees (HWC)/Addameer/Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P)/Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)/Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC)/Land Research Centre/Society of St Yves/Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) (Funded by Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, EU, Norway, Netherlands, France, Denmark, UN agencies)
- On October 14, 15 Palestinian NGOs published a statement which claimed, “The resounding silence of the EU leadership on Israeli atrocities committed in Gaza and their blind support for Israel signals that the EU is green-lighting, enabling and encouraging Israel’s military actions, which already may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and incitement to commit genocide.”
International NGOs
Ken Roth, former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW)
- On October 16, Roth tweeted, “To see why the Israeli government might want to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians of Gaza to Egypt, it helps to understand Israel’s longstanding policy of demographic engineering, made more urgent by the “one-state reality” created by its settlements.” (Also in Roth’s opinion article in the Guardian “Israel appears to be on the verge of ethnic cleansing in Gaza.”)
- See also here
Samidoun
- On October 15, Samidoun tweeted, “The entire problem is that ‘Israel’ is upholding ‘its values’ — that is, colonialism, genocide and Palestinian death and dispossession.”
- See also statement on website, Twitter and Twitter
NGOs Funded by Private Foundations
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) (Funded by Tides Foundation, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundation)
- On October 16, CCR Senior Staff Attorney Diala Shamas tweeted, “US complicity w/ Israeli genocide first and foremost devastating consequences for Palestinians in Gaza.”
- See also statement on website, Twitter and Twitter
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) (Funded by Foundation for Middle East Peace)
- On October 13, CMEP published a statement claiming, “Congress and the Biden Administration must not sit idly by as ethnic cleansing unfolds…We cannot be silent in the face of ongoing collective punishment against the more than 2.2 million citizens of Gaza – of whom more than half are children.”
CODEPINK (Funded by Tides Foundation)
- On October 13, CODEPINK tweeted, “Israel has told one MILLION people with nowhere to go to evacuate within a day (now 12 hours). This is nothing short of ethnic cleansing carried out with US weapons and political support. We cannot let our government keep arming a genocide.”
- See also Twitter and Twitter
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) (Funded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundation)
- On October 16, Dawn published an article by DAWN Fellow Michael Sfard, claiming “Or should we go back to 1948, to the Nakba, to the enormous ethnic cleansing of Palestinians carried out by the newly born Jewish state?…The fear that the profound shock and outrage in Israeli society over Hamas’s massacre will be exploited for ethnic cleansing in Gaza should not be waved off.”
- See also Twitter and statement on website
Good Shepherd Collective (Funded by Alliance for Global Justice)
- On October 11, 2023, Good Shepherd Collective tweeted, “Let’s all be very clear. Palestinians have the right to resist to free themselves from genocide and a murderous siege.”
- See also Twitter and Twitter
IfNotNow (Funded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Tides Foundation, Foundation for Middle East Peace)
- On October 15, IfNotNow led a protest at the White House, calling on “Biden implement a ceasefire and force Israel to halt its war on Palestinians in Gaza. Mourn for the dead; fighting like hell for the living…Stop Genocide of Palestinians.”
- See also Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter and Twitter
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) (Funded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Tides Foundation)
- On October 13, JVP published a statement titled, “Genocide, ethnic cleansing, and another Nakba in Palestine.”
- See also Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, statement on website, statement on website and statement on website
Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) (Funded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Open Society Foundation)
- On October 16, MECA tweeted, “the Israeli genocide unfolding in Gaza hasn’t stopped the Israeli machinery from continuing its crimes and murders in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem.”
Palestine Legal (Funded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Tides Foundation)
- On October 10, Palestine Legal published a statement “it is clear that Israel is bent on waging a vengeful genocidal war on the people of Gaza – once again…There is no equivalence – moral or otherwise – between Israel’s nearly eight decades of ceaseless colonial violence, and the resistance that it has engendered.”
- See also Twitter
Rights Forum (Funded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund)
- On October 17, the Rights Forum, alongside Sabeel UK, and Tent of Nations, hosted a march at the House of Representatives in The Hague titled, “No Genocide in Gaza.”
- See also statement on website
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) (Funded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund)
- On October 9, USCPR tweeted, “There are no ‘both sides’ when Israel has always been the colonizer & aggressor, with one of the world’s most advanced militaries, trapping 2+ million Palestinians (mostly refugees) in an open-air cage in Gaza in unlivable conditions. This is genocide. Pick a side. Free Palestine.”
- See also Twitter
War on Want (Funded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Open Society Foundations)
- On October 14, War on Want tweeted, “Israel is enacting an unfolding genocide in the Gaza Strip – supported by the UK government. We urgently need the UK govt to stop the slaughter and demand immediate ceasefire.”
- See also statement on website, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter and Twitter
Non-Transparent NGOs
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)
- On October 12, AMP published a statement claiming, “Israel is engaged in a genocidal rampage… Instead of taking this opportunity to change course and end the violence, the US government has selected to add fuel to the fire and contribute to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians… For 75 years Palestinians have had to endure mass murder and ethnic cleansing and displacement.”
- See also MPR news article, Twitter, Twitter and Twitter
BDS Movement
- On October 7, the BDS Movement published a statement claiming “Israel’s far-right government, the most racist, fundamentalist and fanatic ever, has been ruthlessly escalating its ethnic cleansing, siege, killings, incarceration, and daily humiliation of millions of Indigenous Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu)
- On October 13, Caabu Director Chris Doyle tweeted, “The issue of whether what Israel is doing right now to Gaza constitutes genocide is definitely worthy of examination. Its officials have used genocidal language. It has imposed a genocidal siege, denying civilians food and water. It has decimated entire neigbourhoods.”
- See also Twitter
Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP)
- On October 13, FMEP President Lara Friedman tweeted, “We are watching Israel commit large scale genocide/ethnic cleansing in real time, with the US govt and much of the organized Jewish community justifying it, defending it, materially supporting it, celebrating it and quite literally cheering it on.”
- On October 14, FMEP President Lara Friedman tweeted, “Palestinians are forced to constantly defend their existence/humanity in the media & defenders of Israel still try to delegitimize/silence them. This isn’t new but today it isn’t merely about suppressing criticism of Israel; it’s about directly enabling ethnic cleansing/genocide.”
- See also Twitter
Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
- On October 9, ICAHD published a statement calling “on Israel to stop its genocidal revenge attacks on Gaza, and certainly not to mount a ground invasion.”
Law4Palestine
- On October 17, Law4Palestine held a webinar titled, “Gaza on the Brink: Israeli Genocidal Intent.”
Masar Badil
- On October 13, Masar Badil issued a statement titled, “The Battle of October: Stop U.S./Israel Genocide in Gaza – Support the Palestinian People’s Resistance.” According to the statement, “ the alliance represented by the United States, Israel, Britain and European countries… and this camp is now responding with a genocidal assault on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.…What is happening today in Palestine is genocide and ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces.”
Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC)
- On October 13, PSC tweeted, “If people do leave their homes and try to go south, they know they are not safe from Israel’s attacks there. There is every reason to believe that Israel’s intention is to never allow them to return. Palestinians are rightly fearing another Nakba of mass ethnic cleansing.”
Sadaka Ireland
- On October 7, Sadaka Ireland tweeted, “Leaders must acknowledge #Palestinians are attacked, ethnically cleansed and killed daily by #Israel and acknowledge decades of Palestinian suffering. Today’s events are inevitable outcome of Israeli crimes and int’l partisan inertia.”
- See also Facebook
Stop the Wall
- On October 11, Stop the Wall tweeted, “War on Gaza did not start on 7. Oct. 2023 it is no war, it is no revenge. It is a Genocidal policy that apartheid Israel planned and implemented for decades.”
- See also Twitter and Twitter