US-funded NGOs Praising Terror, Harming US Companies, and Supporting the ICC
Since 2021, the US government has funded a number of terror-linked and terror-supporting NGOs, that advance economic warfare against US companies, and that support prejudicial ICC investigations against Israel.
During this same period, millions allocated to taxpayer-funded projects in Gaza have been susceptible to diversion by Hamas.
Congress and the Administration must take action to ensure that US funding advances US interests, is efficient, and comports with US values. In particular, NGO Monitor recommends that the US government implement and expand existing guidelines to safeguard US assistance from organizations that:
- Support terrorism and glorify violence
- Espouse antisemitism
- Deny Israel’s right to exist
- Advocate for BDS
Key elements include thorough vetting of potential grantees and their implementing partners, reviews of key officials and materials produced by these organizations, as well as consulting third-party evaluations.
Concerns of Diversion by Hamas
Since 2021, the US has provided substantial funding to Mercy Corps and American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) – both US-based 501c3-registered organizations – for operations in Gaza.
In Gaza, both NGOs have been coordinating with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), including relying on lists of beneficiaries provided by the MoSD.
Mercy Corps
According to an April 27, 2023 USAID factsheet, “USAID/BHA [Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs] partner Mercy Corps supports the distribution of multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA)” in Gaza, with the Federal agency providing “$9 Million in dedicated USAID/BHA funding for MPCA activities in FY 2022” (emphasis added). This corresponds to funding data on the UN’s Financial Tracking Service (FTS), which also records $9 million from USAID-BHA to Mercy Corps for a Gaza cash-assistance program in 2022.
The UN’s description of the 2022 Mercy Corps Gaza project highlights the NGO’s reliance on the Hamas-controlled MoSD to identify beneficiaries:
- “Through unconditional cash assistance, this project will identify and select the most vulnerable HHs [households]…from the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) unserved waiting lists of Social Safety Net (SSN).” (emphases added)
- “Mercy Corps and partners will…identify, assess and verify selected vulnerable HHs [households] to receive cash assistance, monitor activities, and ensure full coordination and engagement with the MoSD, Ministry of Agriculture, the community and all other relevant stakeholders.” (emphasis added)
- “Mercy Corps will be the focal point of coordination with MoSD.” (emphasis added)
According to usaspending.gov – an official website tracking Federal spending – USAID has earmarked $36.7 million for Mercy Corps projects in the West Bank and Gaza since 2021, beyond the $9 million project in 2022.
American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA)
ANERA is a longtime USAID partner in Gaza and has engaged in multiple MoSD-related projects in the area in recent years. It is unclear if the US government has funded any of the ANERA programs that rely on the MoSD.
According to usaspending.gov, USAID has earmarked to ANERA $12.5 million for 2024-2029 Gaza medical assistance. Previously, USAID provided $79.2 million to ANERA in 2013-2022 for “a Palestinian Community Infrastructure Development (PCID) Program.”
Additionally, the State Department is providing $209,099 to ANERA for a 2024-2025 project. According to usaspending.gov, the program’s description is hidden, “Masked for PII [personally identifiable information] Purposes” (emphasis added).
The UN description of a 2023 building project in Gaza highlights ANERA’s close coordination with the MoSD:
- “Anera will finalize and approved [sic] the selection of beneficiaries on the standard shelter cluster criteria in coordination with the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) and the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH).” (emphasis added)
- “Anera will select beneficiaries in coordination with the Shelter Cluster, the MoSD, and the MoPWH.” (emphasis added)
Additionally, in November 2021, ANERA “launched its Women Can women’s empowerment program in Gaza.” According to a press release, “Anera selects the women according to predefined criteria in coordination with the Ministry of Social Development and local organizations that serve women.” (emphasis added)
MoSD ties to Hamas
Hamas has exercised effective control over the Gaza operations of the MoSD, for several years. In April 2019, Hamas appointed politburo member, Ghazi Hamad, to lead the Ministry.
In November 2024, the Treasury Department designated Hamad, labeling him a “senior Hamas official[s].”
The announcement added, “Hamad previously served as a Hamas senior official overseeing border crossings at Gaza. While these border crossings were one of the primary ways Hamas smuggled weapons into Gaza, these crossings were also used to smuggle the construction equipment and materials Hamas needed to build an extensive tunnel network they intentionally interspersed among Palestinian civilians.”
(For more information, see NGO Monitor’s report, “US-funded NGO Aid Benefiting Hamas: Mercy Corps and ANERA Operations in Gaza.”)
Terror-linked and terror-supporting organizations
In September 2023, NGO Monitor revealed that the State Department provided $90,000 that year to the Gaza-based Phoenix Center. At this time, and indicating a lack of oversight and monitoring, Phoenix’s website featured articles in which the NGO called for increasing “armed resistance” against Israel and for launching a “third intifada.” Additionally, the NGO publicized its cooperation and collaboration with senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials.
(For more information, see NGO Monitor’s report, “New State Department Grantee Supports ‘Resistance,’ Partners with Palestinian Islamic Jihad Leaders.”)
In 2022 and 2021, NGO Monitor published analyses of USAID funding for Palestinian NGOs that glorified violence against Israelis and whose officials praised US-designated terrorist organizations.
- For instance, in 2022, USAID provided $78,000 to the Community Development and Continuing Education Institute (CDCE-I). In 2019, CDCE-I board chair, Imad Al-Zeer, participated in an event celebrating the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the PFLP terrorist organization. (See NGO Monitor’s report “USAID 2022 West Bank and Gaza Grantees: Vetting Gaps Remain” for further examples of 2022 US funding to Palestinian organizations whose members have praised terrorist organizations and violence.)
- NGO Monitor’s 2021 report, “USAID-funded Palestinian NGOs: Introducing Children to Convicted Terrorists,” includes numerous examples of US-funded NGOs presenting convicted terrorists as role models, praising specific acts of terrorism, and encouraging children to support violence, hostage taking, and incarcerated terrorists.
Funding to organizations targeting American companies
Since 2020, the US has allocated hundreds-of-millions in taxpayer funds to NGOs targeting US companies for divestment and boycott due to their business relationships with Israel.
Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA)
According to usaspending.gov – a government website that tracks federal spending – the State Department is providing approximately $350 million to NPA (Norsk Folkehjelp)-led projects ending in 2024 and beyond.
In April 2018, NPA settled a civil fraud case with the Justice Department and USAID. The suit charged NPA with a violation of the US False Claims Act related to its providing material support to Iran and Palestinian terror groups – including Hamas.
NPA campaigns against several US companies because of their ties to Israel:
- On November 11, 2024 the Don’t Buy into Occupation Coalition – of which NPA is a member – published a report calling for boycotts of and divestment from the following US companies: Coca-Cola, Booking Holdings, Cisco System, IBM, Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, Airbnb, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Expedia Group, and Tripadvisor due to alleged “activities in the illegal settlement enterprise in the OPT [occupied Palestinian Territory].”
- On June 20, 2024, NPA and partner NGOs published a report titled “The companies arming Israel and their financiers,” calling for divestment from US manufacturers, including Boeing, General Dynamics, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, and RTX.
- NPA and a partner NGO maintain a website cataloging companies they accuse of “contribute[ing] to violations of international law and human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory,” and demanding that the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) divest from them. This includes US companies such as Airbnb, Booking Holdings Inc., Caterpillar, CETCO – Mineral Technologies Inc, Cisco Systems, Expedia Group Inc., First Solar, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, IBM, Motorola Solutions, Palantir Technologies, RE/MAX Holdings, Terex Corp., The Coca-Cola Company, and TripAdvisor Inc.
Arms embargo:
- On January 24, 2024 NPA signed a joint statement directed to UN Member States, demanding an “immediate halt [to] the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups while there is risk they are used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.”
- On May 17, 2024, NPA signed a joint statement that falsely claimed that “all suppliers of arms have to respect the Human Rights Council resolution voted on April 5 calling on them to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.”
Trocaire
According to usaspending.gov, USAID is providing Trocaire with $1.7 million from July 2023-July 2026 for operations in Sierra Leone and provided $721,009 for a 2017-2020 project on “enhancing participatory governance and accountability” in Rwanda.
Trocaire is involved in several campaigns against US companies:
- On November 11, 2024 the Don’t Buy into Occupation Coalition – of which Trocaire is a member – published a report calling for boycotts of and divestment from the following US companies: Coca-Cola, Booking Holdings, Cisco System, IBM, Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, Airbnb, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Expedia Group, and Tripadvisor due to alleged “activities in the illegal settlement enterprise in the OPT [occupied Palestinian Territory].”
- On June 20, 2024, Trocaire and partner NGOs published a report titled “The companies arming Israel and their financiers,” calling for divestment from US manufacturers, including Boeing, General Dynamics, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, and RTX.
- On April 12, 2024, Troicaire released a statement advocating for Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) to divest from all companies listed on the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) blacklist of companies operating in the West Bank, including US firms General Mills, Airbnb, Expedia, Tripadvisor, Booking Holdings and Motorola.
- In March 2023, Trocaire announced its support for a bill “designed to compel the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) to divest itself of holdings in companies currently listed on a UN database of businesses operating within the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt),” including the US companies named above.
International Criminal Court (ICC):
- On November 28, 2022, Trocaire was a signatory on a joint open letter to the Prosecutor of the ICC calling on “[Karim] Khan to investigate and deter the Israeli apartheid regime’s crimes in Palestine”
- On September 29, 2021, Trocaire published a statement urging the Irish government to “Use its voice and seat on the United Nations Security Council to support the efforts of the International Criminal Court to investigate potential war crimes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
SOMO (the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations)
According to SOMO’s 2022 and 2023 annual reports (latest available):
- State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) has provided €765,171
- National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has provided €60,827 in 2021-2023
- NED has not published comprehensive information on European grantees since 2021, when it provided $250,000 to SOMO for “Strengthening Global Standards on Responsible Business Conduct.”
SOMO is involved in several campaigns targeting US companies:
- In June 2024, SOMO, together with the PFLP-linked NGO Al Haq Europe, demanded that “Third States engaged in commercial activities with companies potentially implicated in acts of genocide in Gaza, for example through public procurement, as shareholders, or through public pension fund and other investments should terminate such contracts and exclude such companies.”
US companies referenced include: Caterpillar, Boeing, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Valero, Overseas Shipholding Group, Palantir Technologies, Google, Amazon, X (formerly Twitter), Meta and Intel.
The publication also makes multiple references to the discriminatory UN database of businesses operating across the 1949 Armistice line, which includes US firms Airbnb, Expedia Group, TripAdvisor, Booking Holdings and Motorola Solutions.
In a May 2024 SOMO report demanding “an oil and fuel embargo on Israel,” the NGO argues that “The companies supplying jet fuel… have knowledge of the foreseeable harmful effects of their material support through the supply of jet fuel to Israel…. companies identified as involved in the jet fuel supply chain may face legal liability over their involvement in war crimes” (emphasis added). SOMO then writes, “U.S. company Valero has been a long-time and key supplier of JP-8 [jet fuel] to Israel under contracts with the U.S. government. The JP-8 supplied by Valero is shipped from Corpus Christi port in Texas (U.S.) to Ashkelon (Israel) by vessels belonging to [Florida-based] Overseas Shipholding Group.”
- In December 2024, SOMO published a report titled “Powering injustice,” which claims that “Israel’s energy sector is implicated in international law violations,” and demands that Israel’s West Bank communities be denied electricity and fuel. The report accuses the following US companies of being “complicit” in supplying energy to Israel: Valero, Overseas Shipholding Group, Saltchuk Resources, Chevron Corporation, BrightSource Energy, General Electric Vernova and Energix Renewables.
In April 2024, SOMO published a brief calling for states to “Hold accountable any business enterprises contributing to the Israeli state and military’s capacity for inciting and committing genocidal acts in Gaza,” and demanding they “Cease procurement from or investment of public funds in Israeli or other firms implicated in Israel’s current military operations in Gaza.” SOMO named several US companies in this publication, including Palantir Technologies, Amazon, Google, Chevron, and ExxonMobil, as well as Meta platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
- In March 2021, SOMO co-published a report titled “Tainted Tourism.” Companies listed in the report that are accused of profiting by misrepresenting information include American company Globus. The report also highlights American companies: Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor.
The report demands that states “Effectively enforce existing laws and regulations to prohibit, prevent and hold to account tourism companies involved in settlements…[and] setting out the liabilities that companies could face under domestic law for making gains from activities in the settlements” and “Support the UN Database and the OHCHR’s work to annually update and ensure due process in managing the list of companies active in Israeli settlements.”
- Since at least 2019, SOMO has lobbied intensively in support of the discriminatory UN database of businesses operating across the 1949 Armistice line, aimed at bolstering BDS campaigns against Israel. SOMO has signed multiple letters and issued publications calling for the database to be implemented, and providing information about specific corporations. As detailed above, the UNHRC blacklist currently features US firms General Mills, Airbnb, Expedia, Tripadvisor, Booking Holdings and Motorola.
Arms embargo:
- SOMO is part of a coalition suing the Dutch government to force “a ban on the export and transit of weapons, weapon parts, and dual-use items to Israel and a ban on all Dutch trade and investment relations that help maintain Israel’s unlawful occupation and colonisation of Palestinian territory.”
- On November 1, 2024, SOMO was a signatory on a joint statement calling on States to “Impose a comprehensive three-way military embargo on Israel, including the cessation of all arms transfers, security and surveillance equipment, jet fuel, training, joint exercises, and the transfer of parts, components, and dual-use items. States must suspend all military cooperation with Israel, including joint military and dual-use research and military-industry partnerships.”
- On January 24, 2024 SOMO signed a joint statement to UN Member States “to immediately halt the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups while there is risk they are used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.”
International Criminal Court (ICC):
- In October 2023, SOMO was a signatory on a letter to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, insisting he “Issue Arrest Warrants, Investigate Israeli Crimes and Intervene to Deter Incitement to Commit Genocide in Gaza.”
- On November 28, 2022, SOMO was a signatory on a letter to the ICC Prosecutor, calling on “[Karim] Khan to investigate and deter the Israeli apartheid regime’s crimes in Palestine.”
Funding to Pro-BDS NGOs
In addition to funding NGOs targeting US companies, since 2020, the US government has supported a number of international NGOs campaigning for an arms embargo against Israel and other BDS initiatives.
Oxfam International
According to usaspending.gov, since July 2020, USAID has provided and allocated 27.8 million to Oxfam for operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Arms embargo:
- Oxfam has signed several statements in 2024 demanding an international arms embargo against Israel.
- In June 2024, Oxfam was granted permission by the UK High Court to intervene in support of an “ongoing legal challenge by Al-Haq and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) to the UK’s transfer of arms to Israel.”
- In March 2024, Oxfam published a report calling for countries to “discontinu[ing] any military assistance, including arms sales [to Israel].”
Other BDS activities:
- In October 2022, Oxfam was a signatory on a joint statement against the renewal of the EU-Israel Association Council. The statement called for the EU to “revise its approach from simple statements of concern to the adoption of substantive steps to address the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the oPt” and “Make clear that all upgrades in EU-Israel relations will take place only in case of upholding of respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.”
- In February 2022, Oxfam called on supporters to “Sign the petition for a historic law that stops trade with illegal settlements.”
Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
According to usaspending.gov, since October 2021, USAID has allocated $1.7 million to NCA for activities in Sudan.
Arms embargo and other BDS campaigns:
- According to a November 2024 statement, “Norwegian Church Aid requires… An arms embargo [against Israel] and a halt to the export of weapons and military equipment that could be used to violate humanitarian law and human rights.”
- In September and May 2024, it signed statements demanding an arms embargo against Israel.
- In April 2024, as a member of ACT Alliance EU, NCA was a signatory on a statement calling on the EU and its member states to “Suspend the EU – Israel Association Agreement” and “suspend all arms transfers to Israel while there is a plausible risk that weapons, parts, and ammunitions may be used for the commission of violations of international law.”
DanChurchAid (DCA)
Since January 2022, the State Department has allocated $8.2 million to DCA for operations in the DRC.
Arms embargo:
- On September 16, 2024, DanChurchAid (and Oxfam and Norwegian Church Aid) signed a joint statement demanding “international pressure for an immediate ceasefire, arms embargo, and end to Israel’s systematic aid obstruction.”
- On May 17, 2024, DanChurchAid signed a joint statement that falsely claimed that “all suppliers of arms have to respect the Human Rights Council resolution voted on April 5 calling on them to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.”