Irish Funding Update 2016

• Ireland, via its program for overseas development Irish Aid, provides millions of euros through direct and indirect funding processes to politicized non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Ireland, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
• Organizations receiving Irish funding lead campaigns and political activities that are inconsistent with Ireland’s policies to promote peace and a two-state framework in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Some groups have also used antisemitic rhetoric and have apparent links to terror organizations.

Map from Irish Aid’s 2014 Annual Report, which incorrectly identifies Lebanon as “Palestine.”

• In 2015, Ireland’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the West Bank and Gaza was €9 million, including almost €3 million for humanitarian assistance.
• While the Irish Foreign Minister has stated that the government is “opposed to proposals for trade sanctions or boycotts against Israel,” Ireland continues to fund several NGOs that lead efforts to promote BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns worldwide.
• In 2015, the Irish government provided direct funding of €720,000 to Israeli and Palestinian NGOs and over €32 million in funding to Irish and international NGOs involved in activities in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. Some of the latter groups then transfer funding to Israeli and Palestinian NGOs.

Direct Funding from the Irish Government

Irish Aid’s 2013-2015 annual reports list the following funding to political advocacy NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The Annual Reports only include grants over €50,000.

Irish Aid Funding to Israeli and Palestinian NGOs (in euros)

Direct Funding to Israeli NGOs, based on annual and quarterly submissions to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits

• Miftah received €210,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • The organization describes terror groups as “resistance fighters” and utilizes anti-Israel rhetoric, such as accusing Israel of perpetrating “massacres,” “cultural genocide,” “war crimes,” and “apartheid.”
  • In March 2013, Miftah published an article written by Nawaf al-Zaru that repeated the antisemitic blood libel that Jews use Christian blood to bake Passover matzah.
• Al-Haq received €240,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • Al-Haq is a leader in anti-Israel “lawfare” campaigns and BDS activities. The NGO’s General Director Shawan Jabarin is allegedly linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.
  • Al-Haq proposed sabotaging the Israeli court system by “flooding the [Israeli Supreme] Court with petitions in the hope of obstructing its functioning and resources.” In October 2013, Al-Haq and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) held a meeting with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to present a legal opinion that accused Israel of “widespread and systematic commission of international crimes and violations of international law.”
• Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) received €240,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • PCHR regularly describes Israel’s policies as “apartheid” and accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” “war crimes,” and the “Judaization of Jerusalem.”
  • PCHR is a leader in the “lawfare” movement and has tried to have Israelis arrested for the above mentioned crimes in England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, and New Zealand. The group has filed for punitive damages against Israeli officials and companies doing business with Israel in the US. All of PCHR’s cases have been dismissed in the preliminary stages.
  • In February 2014, the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) organized a ceremony in Gaza honoring PCHR’s founder and director Raji Sourani for winning the “Alternative Noble Prize.” Dr. Rabah Muhana a member of the PFLP Political Bureau, delivered a speech at the prize ceremony.
  • On March 15, 2010, PCHR condemned the rededication of the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem as a “war crime,” and called on EU member states to boycott Israeli goods in protest. The Hurva Synagogue, built during the 1700s, was destroyed by Jordanian forces after they attacked and expelled the Jewish population of the Old City in 1948.
• Yesh Din received €270,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • On May 6, 2016, Yesh Din’s legal advisor Adv. Michael Sfard spoke at an Arria-formula meeting on the sidelines of the UN Security Council. He presented data regarding Israeli policy that allegedly indicated a “lack of enforcement that enables the continuous violence against Palestinians, which is part of a long-term effort to dispossess them of their lands.”
  • This is part of Yesh Din’s broader “lawfare” strategy of manipulating data about Israeli law enforcement and pressing “war crimes” cases against Israeli officials in foreign courts and in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
• Addameer received €225,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • Refers to the Israeli army as the “Israeli Occupying Forces,” and accuses Israel of “collective punishment,” “war crimes,” and a “policy of using Palestinian prisoners as pawns to achieve political and military gains.”
  • Lobbies international frameworks against Israel and supports BDS.
    • Addameer is an official PFLP “affiliate,” and a number of Addameer staff members have alleged connections to terror groups. Addameer’s chairperson and co-founder, Abdul-latif Ghaith, was banned by Israel from travelling internationally due to his alleged membership in the PFLP. He was also banned from entering the West Bank in 2011-2015.
• Gisha received €270,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • Gisha employs “apartheid” rhetoric and vocabulary based on international law and human rights to promote a partisan political and ideological agenda.
• Bimkom received €255,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • Bimkom uses the concept of “planning rights” to sanction illegal building in Area C of the West Bank and in the Bedouin sector. Bimkom’s advocacy, which also targets European government officials, discourages compromise, and prolongs conflict.
• Comet-ME received €225,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • The organization was established in 2009 to “build renewable energy systems for communities that are not connected to the electricity grid because of political reasons and build local capacity to install and maintain those systems.” However, Comet-ME’s work is highly political and may be in violation of Israeli law. In an article regarding building in Area C of the West Bank, co-founder Elad Orian stated, “We don’t get any permits [from the Israeli Civil Administration], so we simply build without.”
  • Orian is a political activist and a member of the audit committee of Zochrot (for more on Zochrot, see below). Orian also signed a petition in support of Tali Fahima, a pro-Palestinian activist who was convicted for contact with terrorists.
• Jerusalem Legal Aid & Human Rights Centre (JLAC) received €225,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • In 2010, JLAC published the first edition of its book We Have Names, We Have a Homeland, which alleges that “brutality and sadism is the true face of Zionism and the State of occupation” and accuses Israel of “savage,” “abhorrent,” and “fascist” practices. The book continues to ask, “Has the history of humanity ever known such brutality as practiced at the hands of Israel…?”

Irish Aid Funding to Irish and International NGOs (in euros)

[1] Marked only as “Oxfam”

[2] “through key partner countries”

[3] “through key partner countries”

[4] Funding noted as “through key partner countries” (2014-2015) and “Other Including Funding in Key Partner Countries” (2013)

• Trócaire is the “overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland.” The organization received nearly €55 million (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • Trócaire funds highly politicized and biased NGOs that support BDS and engage in anti-peace rhetoric against Israel.
  • Acting against Irish government policy, Trócaire conducts campaigns to sanction Israel (and Europe) by suspending mutually beneficial trade agreements. Trócaire also attempted to block Israel’s inclusion in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
• Christian Aid Ireland received nearly €14 million (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • On October 30, 2012, 22 NGOs, including Christian Aid (UK and Ireland), released a report, “Trading Away Peace: How Europe Helps Sustain Illegal Israeli Settlements.” The report repeats the BDS agenda, calling on the EU and national governments to wage political warfare through various forms of economic sanctions against Israel. Christian Aid’s current and former partner organizations include some of the most radical NGOs operating in the region.
• Oxfam International’s various entities received over €13.5 million (2013-2015).
  • Oxfam claims to work with “more than 60 Palestinian and Israeli partner organizations” (emphasis in original), but does not disclose the names of these organizations.
  • Oxfam advocates and participates in BDS campaigns against Israel. In response to increased (mutually beneficial) cooperation between the EU and Israel, Oxfam called on the EU to sanction Israel with “urgent and concrete measures to push for an immediate end to settlement construction and the unlawful demolition of Palestinian civilian infrastructure.” Oxfam also called on the EU to sanction Israel regarding the blockade of Gaza. Oxfam’s lobbying led the British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to recommend that retailers label goods produced in the West Bank as “Israeli settlement produce” or “Palestinian produce.”
  • In 2014, actress Scarlett Johannsen resigned as an “Oxfam Ambassador” over the latter’s support for BDS.
• World Vision Ireland received over €12 million (2013-2015).
  • World Vision Gaza’s manager of operations was arrested in June 2016. He was accused of diverting approximately 60% of World Vision’s Gaza budget to the Hamas terrorist organization to build tunnels and fund other terrorist activity. The siphoned funds amount to approximately $50 million.
  • World Vision Ireland, however, does not appear to fund activities in the region.
• The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) received €400,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • FIDH engages in “lawfare,” supports BDS campaigns, and abuses its reputation as a human rights organization to condemn Israel in a variety of international forums.
  • On May 6, 2015, FIDH along with other French NGOs and unions, as well as Al-Haq, published a report, “Orange’s Dangerous Liaisons in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” calling for a boycott of the Israeli mobile phone network Partner Communications (which operates under the Orange brand). The NGOs targeted the French corporation Orange Group and “the French State as Orange’s principal majority shareholder.”
  • In August 2016, Shawan Jabarin (General Director of Al-Haq) was elected as FIDH’s Secretary General. Jabarin has been denied exit visas by Israel and Jordan on several occasions due to his alleged ties to the PFLP terrorist group.
• Save the Children received over €8.5 million (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • Despite a humanitarian mandate, some of Save the Children’s programs include major political and partisan advocacy that fuels the conflict, echoing the Palestinian narrative of victimization.
• Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) received over €4 million (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • In a July 7, 2015, opinion piece, MSF-USA Executive Director Jason Cone attacked Israeli security policy while omitting Hamas terror attacks against Israeli civilians, alleging: “Israeli fears of rocket fire from Gaza… and the ongoing threat of tunnel-enabled attacks… cannot justify the devastating medical and psychological consequences for Palestinians of the barriers, checkpoints, bombing campaigns, blockades, and incursions.”
• Action contre la faim (ACF) received over €1.4 million (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • ACF is a member of EWASH (Emergency Water Sanitation and Hygiene), a coalition of NGOs that presents a one-sided narrative, ignoring the negotiated agreements (i.e. Oslo Accords) that determine water arrangements in order to falsely accuse Israel of violating international law on water rights. EWASH plays a major political role in promoting falsehoods about water issues, which are then repeated by other NGOs, UN bodies, and the media.
• CIVICUS – World Alliance for Citizen Participation received €320,000 (2013-2014) from Irish Aid.
  • In a July 2014 UN submission CIVICUS stated that it was “appalled by the tragedy that the State of Israel, after its Holocaust history…that this State has turned from a victim into a victimizer.”
• Amnesty International (Ireland) received €100,000 (2013-2014) from Irish Aid.
  • Amnesty disproportionately singles out Israel for condemnation, focusing solely on the conflict with the Palestinians, misrepresenting the complexity of the conflict, and ignoring more severe human rights violations in the region.
• Interpeace received €100,000 (2013-2014) from Irish Aid.
  • Interpeace’s program information about the West Bank and Gaza repeated a Palestinian narrative and referred to the State of Israel as a catastrophe, claiming “It has been over 60 years since the 1948 Al-Nakba war. This led to the creation of the Israeli state and was followed by the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory in 1967.”
• Transparency International received €500,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • Transparency International endorses Aman Coalition, which refers to itself as “AMAN-Transparency Palestine.” AMAN accuses Israel of “stealing,” having “racist goals,” “Judaization,” and “repeated attempts to ignite a sectarian religious conflict with the aim of controlling the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its precincts.”
• Front Line received nearly €1 million from Irish Aid.
  • Front Line supported the activities of B’Tselem in 2015 (see below).
  • Front Line promotes Omar Barghouti, co-founder of Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), who is active in promoting BDS and compares Israeli efforts to contain terrorism to the antisemitic polices of Nazi Germany as a “human rights defender.”
• We Effect (Formally the Swedish Cooperative Centre) received €600,000 (2013-2015) from Irish Aid.
  • We Effect partners with Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ), which runs a program for the NGO. ARIJ is among the leaders of the political warfare against Israel, seeking to further BDS, falsely accusations of Israeli “apartheid” and “racism,” and supports a Palestinian “right of return,” which is inconsistent with the two-state framework.

Indirect Funding from Irish Aid to Israeli and Palestinian NGOs

Indirect Funding to Israeli NGOs, based on annual and quarterly submissions to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits (in shekels)

[1] Annual funding documentation provided to the Israeli Registrar of Non-profits, see http://index.justice.gov.il/Units/RasutHataagidim/units/RashamAmutot/services/Pages/NetuneyAmutot.aspx.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

• Zochrot received over NIS 275,000 (2015) from Christian Aid, nearly NIS 26,000 (2014) from Oxfam GB, and NIS 46,000 (2013) from Trócaire.
  • Zochrot supports a “One State Solution” and a “de-Zionized Palestine,” and refers to Israel as having an “ethnicized and racialized Zionist” system. (See NGO Monitor’s factsheet on Zochrot’s Support for “One State,” May 1, 2014).
• Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) received over NIS 23,847 (2013) from Trócaire.
  • CWP initiated the “Who Profits” campaign “in response to the Palestinian Call for boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) on Israel.” “Who Profits?” is an activist tool and a database that identifies targets for anti-Israel divestment and boycotts.
• Who Profits? received over NIS 260,000 (2014-2016) from Trócaire.
  • Who Profits initiates international BDS campaigns, targeting Israeli and foreign banks, security companies, civil infrastructure facilities, and private companies. Who Profits further identifies companies for other BDS activists to target.
• Breaking the Silence (BtS) received over NIS 450,000 (2014-2015) from Trócaire.
  • In June 2014, Trócaire sponsored a Breaking the Silence photography exhibit in Dublin, claiming to portray “the day-to-day reality of service” in the West Bank. BtS “collects testimonies” from former Israeli soldiers, who repeat false allegations of “war crimes” and “violations of international law.” As NGO Monitor has demonstrated, these “testimonies” are often anonymous, based on hearsay, and stripped of context, in order to advance the political agenda of BtS activists.
  • Breaking the Silence makes sweeping accusations based on anecdotal, anonymous, and unverifiable accounts of often low-ranked soldiers. These “testimonies” lack context, are politically biased, and erase the complicated reality in the West Bank. In addition, they reflect a distorted interpretation of the conflict in order to advance the political agenda of Breaking the Silence activists, thereby fueling the international campaigns against Israel.
• B’Tselem received over NIS 320,000 (2013-2015) from Trócaire, nearly NIS 550,000 (2013-2015) from Christian Aid, and nearly NIS 20,000 (2015) from Front Link BOL.
  • B’Tselem aims to change Israeli government policy in the West Bank and Gaza by utilizing unsubstantiated accusations of Israeli human rights violations. The NGO became very active during the 2014 Gaza war, issuing numerous statements and conducting highly politicized campaigns. These activities were characterized by repeated false or distorted factual and legal allegations and blatant political bias, which is often repeated at face value by journalists and in media appearances.
• Gisha received over NIS 350,000 (2014-2015) from Trócaire and over NIS 450,000 (2013-2015) from Oxfam-GB. For more information on Gisha, see above.
• Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) received nearly NIS 450,000 (2013-2014) from Trócaire.
  • RHR promotes the Palestinian narrative of victimization and demonization of Israel, including rhetoric describing “Israel’s foul and discriminatory policies against Palestinians, despite its obligation toward them as the occupier…Israel is forcing Palestinians to live in a completely separate universe where time has stood still, and prevents them from properly planning their most basic needs and infrastructure.”
  • RHR produced an offensive 2013 film, “Fiddler with no Roof,” comparing Israel’s plan to resettle unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev to the expulsion of the Jews during the antisemitic Tsarist regime.
• Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual received over NIS 160,000 (2013-2014) from Trócaire.
  • HaMoked accuses Israel of enforcing “apartheid” with the West Bank security barrier.
  • HaMoked has described Israel’s policies as “ethnic cleansing” and “racist.” For example, in an interview in the National, Director of Hamoked Dalia Kerstein said, “There is clearly a policy to push Palestinians out of Jerusalem and Israel to reduce what is called here the Palestinian demographic threat. It’s really a case of ethnic cleansing.”

In addition, Trócaire lists the following NGOs as partners: BADIL, Al-Haq, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), Caritas Jerusalem, Medical Aid for Palestinians, and Gaza Community Mental Health Programme. Trócaire does not disclose the extent of these partnerships, nor the amount of grants given to these NGOs.

• BADIL – Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights – Badil regularly accuses Israel of “state-sponsored racism,” “systematic ethnic cleansing,” “slow genocide,” “forced displacement of the Palestinians” and being a “colonial apartheid regime.”
  • Badil’s ideological agenda promotes the Palestinian narrative of the “Nakba” and so-called “right of return,” which, if implemented, would effectually mean the elimination of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.
  • In June 2015, BADIL submitted an oral statement to the UN Human Rights Council, accusing Israel of failing to comply with international law, forced displacement, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
  • In May 2010, Badil awarded second place and a $600 monetary prize to a blatantly antisemitic cartoon, featuring a grotesque caricature of a Jewish man standing over dying Arab child and holding a pitchfork dripping with blood. In response, some donors froze their funding to the NGO.
    • Badil continues to publish cartoons and posters that call for the elimination of Israel.
• Al-Haq – see above.
• Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) – see above.
• Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) demonizes Israel through accusations of “apartheid,” “war crimes,” and “Bantustans,” and refers to Israel’s anti-terror security barrier as “evil.” EAPPI champions a one-sided Palestinian narrative, participating in activities commemorating the Palestinian “Nakba” (catastrophe) and promoting a “right of return.” It ignores the numerous terror attacks against Israelis and blames only Israel for the conflict. EAPPI engages in BDS campaigns, including “advocacy work” against “corporations with linkage to the illegal settlements.”
• Caritas Jerusalem – Caritas International is a Catholic aid organization. Caritas Jerusalem’s Communications Officer described Hamas terrorists as “militants” and suggested that the November 2012 Gaza clashes were due to the fact that Israel wants to use “force” to compel the Palestinians to “give up their rights to the land.”
• Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) MAP founder Dr. Swee Ang promoted a video made by American white supremacist David Duke. The video is described on Duke’s YouTube page as “reveal[ing] how the Zionist Matrix of Power controls Media, Politics, and Banking and how each Part of this Tribalist matrix supports and protects each other!” This is only one of several examples of antisemitism associated with MAP.
  • From 2013 to 2014, Dr. Majed Nassar served as Director of Programs in the West Bank for MAP. Nassar has alleged ties to the PFLP. According to a 2007 document, Israel has prevented Nassar from traveling “since 2001,” a decision upheld by the Israel High Court of Justice
• Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) has repeatedly endorsed, promoted, and received funding from BDS campaigns and released a statement stating, “It is essential to boycott Israeli products as an effective measure to hinder the economy feeding the war crime machinery behind the massacres.”