Main Points in the UN High Commissioner’s Report on “BDS Blacklist”

In advance of the 37th Council session (February 26 - March 23, 2018), the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has released a report on the “BDS blacklist” of companies that do business with Israelis over the 1949 Armistice Line. The report, submitted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, provides important details on the flawed process and the difficulties inherent in creating a list of companies to be targeted by this form of BDS.

Topics

• BDS
• UN BDS Blacklist
• United Nations

Statement on UN Blacklist Delay

NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Al Haq, have been advocating for a discriminatory blacklist for many years to advance a BDS agenda. However, this does nothing to further human rights, and the UN should not devote further resources to this charade.

Topics

• BDS
• UN BDS Blacklist
• United Nations

Powerful NGOs, Antisemitism, and the Irish BDS Bill

The Irish Parliament is considering a bill, drafted in conjunction with Trocaire and Christian Aid, two powerful NGOs involved in demonization of Israel, ostensibly to criminalize trade in Israeli settlement goods. Although the bill refers generically to “occupied territories,” it was clearly written to explicitly target Israel.

Topics

• BDS

Amnesty Silences Human Rights, Extends Hate Campaign

Amnesty International-UK’s Human Rights Centre in London was originally scheduled to host a debate on January 24, between Hillel Neuer of UN Watch and Fred Carver of the UN Association, moderated by human rights attorney and Yahad board member Danny Friedman. A few days before the event (January 24), however, Amnesty-UK abruptly cancelled the event on the grounds that the organization was “currently campaigning for all governments around the world to ban the import of goods produced in the illegal Israeli settlements.

Topics

• Amnesty-UK’s Human Rights Action Centre
• Antisemitism
• BDS
• Demonization
• Human Rights

• Labour Friends of Palestine
• Settlements
• UN Association
• UN Watch
• United Nations

NGO Monitor Applauds Danish and Norwegian to Stop Funding to Divisive NGOs

On December 22, 2017, following an internal investigation of its funding to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Danish Foreign Ministry announced that the “majority of Danish aid to the organizations, which was suspended in 2017, will not be paid.” The ministry also confirmed that that “donor cooperation [to the Ramallah-based NGO funding mechanism] will end at the end of the year 2017.”

Topics

• BDS
• NGO Funding
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

[Opinion] The Members of Israel’s BDS Blacklist

The Israeli government has prepared a list of 20 organizations that lead BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns, such that officials of these groups will not be allowed to enter Israel. Reasonable people can disagree on whether or not banning activists who seek to harm the country they desire to enter is the best policy approach or not.

Topics

• BDS
• BDS on Campus
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
• Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)

UNICEF and its NGO Working Group: Failing Children

UNICEF spearheads a campaign to have Israel included on a UN blacklist of “grave” vio-lators of children’s rights. This political agenda is a primary facet of UNICEF’s activities relating to Israel, completely inconsistent with its mandate of “child protection” and from its guidelines for neutrality and impartiality.

Topics

• Apartheid Rhetoric
• BDS
• Children
• Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC)
• Delegitimization

• European Commission
• Human Rights NGOs
• International NGOs
• NGO
• Propaganda

• UN CAAC Blacklist
• UNICEF
• United Nations
• Watchlist
• Whitewashing

[Opinion] #NOWAYTOTREATACHILD: A CYNICAL CAMPAIGN TO MANIPULATE PALESTINIAN CHILDREN

In a video that has gone viral, a young Palestinian approaches two Israeli soldiers. She hits, prods and slaps them. She is trying to provoke a reaction that will be caught on camera and show the ugly violence of the Israeli army. The soldiers respond with professionalism and restraint, and ignore her attack.

Topics

• Ahed Tamim
• BDS
• Betty McCollum
• Ken Roth

• No Way to Treat a Child
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
• United Nations
• War Child Holland

Joint funding from Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and the Netherlands ends, cutting $20 million over 4 years

In December 2017, the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat ceased support and funding for NGOs.

Topics

• Antisemitism
• BDS
• PFLP
• Secretariat

Military Court Watch: Inventing Legal Standards to Attack the IDF

Military Court Watch is an opaque organization that claims to work on issues related to ensuring children are protected under international law. In reality, MCW’s activities are part of a broader non-governmental organization (NGO) propaganda campaign that exploits concerns over children’s rights to demonize Israel. The NGO was founded and is led by Gerard Horton, who was previously involved with the Palestinian NGO Defense for Children International – Palestine, which promotes a similar agenda.

Topics

• BDS
• Children
• Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC)
• Demonization
• False Allegations
• Gerard Horton

• International Law
• Lack of Transparency
• Morad Dayis
• No Way to Treat a Child
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
• UNICEF