Ibdaa Institute "Gaza Holocaust" website
In December 2010, the Palestinian NGO “Ibdaa Institute for Research and Training” (known in English as “Creativity”) launched a website called “Gaza Holocaust.” The antisemitic 1 website aims to document “Israeli war crimes,” “shaming the practices and crimes that the Zionists committed against the people of the Gaza Strip” and “uncovering Zionist propaganda to the whole world, which says that during its aggressions the Zionist army targeted the roots of the Palestinian resistance and not civilians.” The website’s banner features a hand dripping with blood.
As described in a Yediot Aharonot article, the site is the “fruit of ongoing efforts, which include field activity by some 120 researchers…aided by human rights organizations, government ministries, and institutes in the Strip.” On the site, Ibdaa thanks EU- and Europe-funded groups including the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Al-Mezan, and Al-Dameer. Additionally, in the summer of 2010, officials from Ibdaa met with representatives from IHH, the Turkish NGO and designated terror group from the “Free Gaza” flotilla. Funding information for Ibdaa is not available.
“Gaza Holocaust” posts the names of Israeli “war criminals,” with their military position and rank; videos and photos; testimonies, weaponry, and field reports. It also lists Palestinians who were allegedly killed in the Gaza War, with their age and date of death; those who were wounded, along with their particular injury; and mosques that were hit. The site posts eulogies of prominent Palestinians who were killed, including Hamas military-wing commander Said Siam.
The NGOs who contributed to “Gaza Holocaust” should immediate repudiate the antisemitic content and aims of the website. Additionally, the funders of these groups, in particular the European governments and the EU, should re-evaluate their support for groups associated with this hateful project.
Footnotes
- “Examples of the ways in which antisemitism manifests itself with regard to the State of Israel taking into account the overall context could include…Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”