Submission of NGO Monitor to CERD on the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the ad hoc Conciliation Commission (CERD/C/113/3)

Full Article

Click to view the full submission

Introduction

This submission provides information concerning the role of certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in promoting hate speech, antisemitism, and the justification of violence against the State of Israel and its citizens.

In the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led massacre, several NGOs and their officials publicly celebrated or legitimized these atrocities. Rather than condemning the deliberate targeting of civilians, these groups glorified the attacks as “resistance,” erased the suffering of victims, or denied well-documented crimes such as sexual violence and mass killings.

Such rhetoric constitutes hate speech as defined under CERD and international law, in particular the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence under Article 4 of CERD and Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). When NGOs, many of them beneficiaries of international and UN funding, engage in this conduct, they undermine the integrity of global civil society. There can be no credible Conciliation process with actors that falsify history, deny the rights of Israelis and Jews to self-determination, promote, incite, and excuse violence and hatred against Israelis and Jews, and seek the elimination of Israel instead of peace and security in two states for both Israelis and Palestinians.