[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

Question: Do the American Jews contributing to NIF realize that some of the
Arab NGOs they are providing funds to via NIF oppose granting Israeli
citizenship to American Jews who move to Israel? The right of Jews around
the world to move to Israel and become citizens is the critical facet of
Israel's being a "Jewish state" that Adalah and other Arab groups so
strongly oppose. ]

NIF-Funded NGOs: Goldstone's Building Blocks
NGO Monitor
www.ngo-monitor.org/article/nif_funded_ngos_goldstone_s_building_blocks
February 09, 2010

a.. NIF-funded groups and their publications were featured centrally in
the Goldstone report, which focused on alleged Israeli "war crimes" in the
2009 Gaza war. The report referenced B'Tselem more than 56 times; Adalah,
38; and Breaking the Silence, 27.
b.. Many of these citations referred to speculative issues unrelated to
the conflict in Gaza, seeking to brand Israeli democracy as "repressive" and
to widen the scope of the condemnations.
c.. Since the initial publication of the Goldstone report on September 15,
2009, these NIF-supported NGOs - including B'Tselem, ACRI, Gisha, PHR-I, and
Yesh Din - have continued supporting Goldstone and lobbying the governments
of the United States, the European Union, and others to legitimize the
report's extreme biases and endorse its recommendations.
d.. In response to the controversy over their support for Goldstone, these
organizations and the NIF launched an offensive against critics. NIF
supporters accused NGO Monitor of "silenc[ing] expression," and being
"extremist," "incendiary," the "rotten fruit of Israeli democracy," and
"McCarthyite."
e.. In addition to involvement with Goldstone, several organizations
funded by NIF, including Adalah, campaign against the legitimacy of Israel
as a Jewish democratic state. Others such as Mossawa and Coalition of Women
for Peace are active in worldwide boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS)
campaigns targeting Israel.
f.. The political impact of NIF-supported NGOs, based on NIF's annual
budget of $32 million, is bolstered by additional funds from European
governments and church groups that allocate funds to the same recipient
organizations.
Contents:
1) NIF-grantees and the delegitimization of Israel

2) NIF-funded NGOs and the Goldstone indictment
3) Summary of activities by 20 major NIF grantees active in the Arab-Israeli
conflict

Introduction:
The New Israel Fund (NIF) supports more than 100 organizations involved in a
wide range of areas in Israel, including political activism related to the
Arab-Israeli conflict.

As highlighted recently, NIF-funded groups and their publications were
featured centrally in the Goldstone report, which focused on alleged Israeli
"war crimes" in the 2009 Gaza war. During the fighting, as shown in NGO
Monitor analyses, these NGOs issued daily reports claiming to document
Israeli "human rights" violations. NGO officials, widely quoted in the
media, lobbied intensively for an international inquiry.

After the Goldstone commission was established, three major and long-time
NIF grantees (Public Committee against Torture in Israel, Physicians for
Human Rights-Israel, and Adalah) participated in a May 2009 NGO "town hall
meeting" in Geneva that helped shape the course of Goldstone's "investigation".
In addition, seven NIF-funded NGOs (including the Association for Civil
Rights in Israel, Gisha, HaMoked, and Yesh Din) submitted a joint statement
to Goldstone, and a representative from PCATI "testified" at the July 2009
Goldstone hearings, referring to "collective punishment" and "[Palestinian]
martyrs."

The resulting Goldstone report referenced B'Tselem more than 56 times;
Adalah, 38; and Breaking the Silence, 27. Significantly, many of these
citations referred to speculative issues unrelated to the conflict in Gaza,
seeking to brand Israeli democracy as "repressive," and to widen the scope
of the condemnations and the resulting political campaigns.

In turn, B'Tselem, Adalah, and PHR-I, among others, have lobbied Israeli and
foreign governments to support Goldstone's report and its recommendations.
Adalah, for example, joined the Palestinian NGOs Al Mezan, Al-Haq, and the
Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) in a press release urging
countries to "re-evaluate their relationship with Israel."

In response to the controversy over their support for Goldstone, these
organizations and the NIF launched an offensive against critics, including
NGO Monitor, that brought the relationship to light. Through coarse smears,
NIF supporters accuse NGO Monitor of "silenc[ing] expression," and being
"extremist," "incendiary," and the "rotten fruit of Israeli democracy."
This echoes claims from December 2009 that NGO
Monitor is "McCarthyite."

NGO Monitor's many calls for debates with NIF officials and grantees have
been rebuffed. In July 2009, an NIF employee posted a vulgar cartoon on
his blog directed at NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg in July 2009,
and in 2008 another NIF grantee frivolously sued NGO Monitor for libel -
apparently, to quash reporting and public debate on its activities.

1. NIF-grantees and the delegitimization of Israel

In addition to involvement with Goldstone, several organizations funded by
NIF campaign against the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish democratic state,
and are active in worldwide boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) and
similar campaigns targeting Israel.

NIF has justified its funding decisions, claiming to promote pluralism and
dialogue, and to support free expression of differing views in Israel. In
contrast, NGO Monitor's research demonstrates the damage to democracy
resulting from these NIF-supported NGO activities, and the lack of effective
guidelines in NIF's funding processes. From correspondence, it is clear that
many NIF donors, both individuals and via Jewish federations, are unaware of
these political campaigns.

The political impact of NIF-supported NGOs, based on an annual budget of $32
million, is increased via additional funds from European governments and
church groups that allocate funds to the same recipient organizations.
Through the media, via legal processes, and elsewhere, NIF grantees are
therefore in a position to manipulate the marketplace of ideas to a degree
that is entirely disproportionate to the general level of support for their
agendas.

This preliminary report presents an overview of how NIF-funded NGOs
contributed to the Goldstone Report and promoted it after publication. Also
included are brief summaries of the activities of 20 NGOs funded by NIF.

2. NIF-funded NGOs and the Goldstone indictment

Written submission
A group of Israeli NGOs -ACRI, Adalah, Bimkom, Gisha, HaMoked, PHR-I, PCATI,
and Yesh Din - submitted a one-sided written statement to the Goldstone
Commission (June 30, 2009) that does not address alleged Hamas war crimes,
"but rather offers our own distinct perspective - human rights violations
for which Israel must be held accountable."[1] This NGO document makes
entirely speculative assertions about the motivation for the IDF operation
against Hamas, claiming that "[t]o the extent that this was planned as a
punitive operation which main purpose was not the achievement of actual
military objectives, but the inflicting of deliberate damage as a deterrent
and punitive measure" - despite their lacking requisite information to make
such an assertion.[2]

The submission accuses the IDF of having "deliberately and knowingly shelled
civilian institutions," supporting the coalition's incorrect legal claim
that "Israel deviated from the principle that allows harm only to military
objectives, and carried out strikes against civilian sites in an effort to
achieve political ends."[3] References and evidence are missing for many
accusations, such as the allegation that "[m]any prisoners . were held in
pits in the ground . apparently dug by the army"[4]; details are sourced to
"information in our possession."[5]

NGO support for Goldstone
Since April 2009, when Judge Richard Goldstone was appointed to lead the UN
Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission into the Gaza war, NIF-funded
NGOs were among those that led the campaign demanding that the Israeli
government cooperate with the investigation, supporting misleading claims
that the mandate was "balanced" and the panel was fair.

In turn, Goldstone bolstered the credibility of these groups by relying
heavily on their publications, uncritically repeating claims, calling NGO
activists to "testify," praising their "high professional standard" while
working in "extremely difficult circumstances," and defending them against
alleged "repression" from the Israeli government.

Since the initial publication of the Goldstone report on September 15, 2009,
and throughout the proceedings at the UN, these NIF-supported NGOs have
continued supporting Goldstone and lobbying the governments of the United
States, the European Union, and others to legitimize the report's extreme
biases and endorse its recommendations.

B'Tselem, which receives a substantial percentage of its budget from NIF,
the EU, and European governments, has been campaigning against the IDF and
demanding an "independent and credible investigation" of the Gaza war since
January 2009, urged Israel to cooperate with Goldstone, and "provided
assistance to the investigative staff of the Goldstone mission from the
beginning to the end of its research."

Disingenuously, and erasing her own role in the process, B'Tselem Executive
Director Jessica Montell claimed that "Israel has only itself to blame" for
the report's conclusions and recommendations. She also stated that Israel
was "shoot[ing] the messenger and bury[ing] its head in the sand."

When the report was released, B'Tselem mildly criticized Goldstone for
"framing of Israel's military operation as part of 'an overall policy aimed
at punishing the Gaza population for its resilience'" and "the very careful
phrasing regarding Hamas abuses." However, this NIF-funded political NGO
continues to "advocate[] for ... its principal recommendation: that Israel
investigate suspicions that its forces breached international humanitarian
law."

Other NIF grantees - Adalah , ACRI, B'Tselem, Gisha , HaMoked , PHR-I ,
PCATI, and Yesh Din - issued a joint statement calling on Israel to "take
the report seriously" and "cooperate with an international monitoring
mechanism that would guarantee both the independence of that investigation
and the implementation of its conclusions."

3. Summary of activities by 20 major NIF grantees active in the Arab-Israeli
conflict
. Adalah (NIF grants authorized in 2006-2008: $1,045,292) advances "war
crimes" charges against Israel at the UN Human Rights Council, in reports
cited in the media, in Israeli courts, and in campaigns conducted with other
political NGOs. Adalah officials promote the false claim that "the Israeli
legal and judicial systems have consistently failed in providing any legal
remedies to the Palestinian people." Adalah, itself, has prevailed several
times in cases filed in Israeli courts.

In 2007, Adalah proposed a constitution for Israel that calls for replacing
the Jewish framework of the state with a "democratic, bilingual and
multicultural" framework. This "Democratic Constitution" - based on the
concept of "a one-state solution" - would permit Jewish immigration for
"humanitarian reasons" only.

Adalah campaigns against national community service for Arabs in Israel,
even within the Arab sector, although such service is widely supported by
Israeli Arabs. In a 2005 publication, for instance, Adalah claimed
"national/military service in Israel . . . constitutes the Jewish Zionist
identity" and forces Arabs to "to submit to a rationale that further grounds
discrimination and oppression."
Adalah officials, in conjunction with radical Palestinian NGO Al-Haq, wrote
and edited large portions of a May 2009 publication, initiated by
anti-Israel ideologue John Dugard, entitled "Occupation, Colonialism,
Apartheid?: A re-assessment of Israel´s practices in the occupied
Palestinian territories under international law." The document refers to
Israeli occupation as a "colonial enterprise which implements a system of
apartheid."

Goldstone excerpt: "Not allowing prisoners to use the telephone "violates
detainees' right to dignity and their right to family life, and 'transforms
their imprisonment to a humiliating and degrading experience that
contradicts international norms and conventions." (para. 1458)

. Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) (grants authorized in 2006-2008:
$285,509) is a highly politicized umbrella organization that systematically
condemns Israeli policies. CWP projects include Machsom Watch (grants
authorized in 2006-2008: $165,198) and others that use "apartheid" and
"Naqba" rhetoric to delegitimize Israel.

CWP is responsible for the "Who Profits?" divestment project tracking
Israeli and international corporations that allegedly "are directly involved
in the occupation." Who Profits? influenced the anti-Israel divestment
campaign in Norway and a similar project in the UK.

In 2009, CWP published an article asking: "How is it that our consolation is
that we hurt, we demolished, we killed? ... . The truth is that we really do
like wars, that's our language, that's our culture ... we will find all the
explanations in the world to justify any war. Even this one, the spare one,
in Gaza." During the war, CWP joined the "Remove the Siege-Stop the War"
coalition, and organized protests against Israeli policy. It also
participated in public commemorations of the "59th anniversary of the Naqba"
on Israel's Independence Day in 2007.

Goldstone excerpt (Machsom Watch): "The restriction on the ability to move
freely, without obstacle or delay, or without another person's
authorization, is often perceived as a humiliating experience." (para. 1509)

. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) (grants authorized in
2006-2008: $503,537) supports often violent protests at the security barrier
near Bil'in as an "act of solidarity with the people who fight against the
occupation and the building of the wall." PHR-I campaigned in international
forums against Israel's actions during the Gaza War, appearing before the UN
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian
People and lobbying the European Union to support condemnations of Israel.
This NGO was a major source of accusations contained in the Goldstone
report.

Goldstone excerpt: "The Mission also investigated and confirmed allegations
about the use of weapons whose potential long-term impact on individual
victims' health raises concern. They include allegations of the use of
weapons containing chemical pollutants such as tungsten and white
phosphorus." (para. 1258)[6]

. Breaking the Silence (BtS) (grants authorized in 2006-2008: $200,855) says
it "voices the experiences" of Israeli soldiers "in order to force Israeli
society to address the reality which it created." Although claiming to
target "Israeli society," this NGO's lobbying and media advocacy focus on
international audiences. Amos Harel wrote in Haaretz: "Breaking the Silence
... has a clear political agenda, and can no longer be classed as a 'human
rights organization.'"

In addition to collecting anonymous testimony from soldiers some of it
based on hearsay and widely cited as evidence of "war crimes" in Gaza by
publications including the Goldstone report BtS conducts tours to Hebron
and the South Hebron Hills to support its claim that in Hebron there is "a
reality of Apartheid and a kind of 'ethnic cleansing.'"

Goldstone excerpt: "Breaking the Silence issued a statement in which it
accused the Foreign Ministry of a 'witch-hunt', saying that it testified to
the erosion of the 'democratic culture' in Israel." (para. 1731)

. B'Tselem (grants authorized in 2006-1008: $785,285) "acts primarily to
change Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories," a political objective
bolstered by B'Tselem's office in Washington, DC, which brings its agenda
directly to U.S. officials. While widely considered Israel's premier
human-rights organization, B'Tselem has faced serious criticism for its
misrepresentations of international law, inaccurate research, skewed
statistics (including casualty lists), and selective coverage of violations
against Israelis. These problematic methodologies reinforce the Palestinian
narrative of victimization and portray Israel as the sole impediment to
peace.

Goldstone excerpt: "In the face of the recently increase in violence by the
Israeli security forces in the West Bank, B'Tselem stated that condemnations
by Ministers and other officials "remain solely declarative. Security
forces, meanwhile, misusing their power, continue to abuse and beat
Palestinians, among them, minors . . If a message is sent to security
forces, it is that even if the establishment does not accept acts of
violence, it will not take measures against those who commit them. The
effect of such a message is that the lives and dignity of Palestinians are
meaningless and that security forces can continue, pursuant to the function
they serve, to abuse, humiliate, and beat Palestinians with whom they come
into contact." (para. 1405)

. Bimkom (grants authorized in 2006-2008: $923,221) aims "to achieve the
right to equality and social justice in matters of planning, development,
and the allocation of land resources" and to "[assist] communities and
minorities affected by social and economic disadvantage." In reality, Bimkom
promotes the Palestinian narrative. Activities include a campaign against
the security barrier; petitions against "collective punishment" in Gaza; and
input to press releases, reports, and a website detailing allegations of
Israeli "violations" during the fighting in Gaza - most of which involved
issues outside Bimkom's remit and stated mandate.

Goldstone excerpt: "In a recent report reviewed by the Mission, Bimkom
concluded that the Israeli Civil Administration applied 'a deliberate and
consistent policy in Area C with the goal of restricting Palestinian
construction and development and limiting its spatial dispersion.'" (para.
1539)

. Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) (grants authorized in
2006-2008: $48,888) claims to campaign against torture and for prisoner
rights. PCATI's reports condemn alleged Israeli abuses, and its officials
appear before international frameworks to promote anti-Israel agendas. In
2009, a PCATI official testified in Geneva before the UN's Goldstone inquiry
on the Gaza war, referring to Israel's "unacceptable collective punishment"
and to Palestinian "martyrs." In a 2009 report submitted to the UN Committee
Against Torture, PCATI accused Israel of attacks on "civilians and civilian
objects" during the Gaza fighting. The group appears to have participated in
only one statement in support of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped
by Hamas in June 2006 and consistently denied his rights under the Geneva
Conventions.

Goldstone excerpt: "A PCATI lawyer representing detainees, Mr. Bader, who
spoke at the Mission's public hearings in Geneva, interviewed a number of
the detainees in Israeli prisons and relayed their testimonies. These
include stories from prisoners who said they were used as human shields or
held in sandpits." (para. 1110)

. Gisha (grants authorized in 2006-2008: $35,625) promotes the false claim
that Gaza remains "occupied" under international law, and that Israel has a
legal obligation to grant unfettered "freedom of movement" to Gaza
residents. Gisha's claims were quoted in the Goldstone report in order to
accuse Israel of enacting policies "in the pursuance by Israel of political
goals at the expense of the civilian population, in blatant violation of
international humanitarian law."

Gisha's highly publicized 2008 campaign condemning Israel for barring
Palestinian students' travel from Gaza to Israel and to the United States
under the Fulbright program erased Israel's legitimated security concerns.
Indeed, most of these "students" were refused entry by the American
government on security grounds. In addition, in frequent condemnations of
Israeli policy on Gaza, Gisha has largely ignored the tons of humanitarian
aid provided by Israel despite massive rocket barrages from Gaza.

Goldstone excerpt: "Gisha call[s] this regulation an additional measure in a
deliberate Israeli policy to deepen the separation between the West Bank and
Gaza 'in the pursuance by Israel of political goals at the expense of the
civilian population, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law.'"
(para. 1527)

. HaMoked (grants authorized in 2006-2008: $499,765) accuses Israel of "war
crimes," with only a token reference to Hamas' "sporadic" rocket fire
against Israeli civilians. HaMoked called the Gaza war a "punitive
operation," and promoted the unverified claim that "[m]any prisoners . were
held in pits in the ground . apparently dug by the army." During the Gaza
war, HaMoked distorted international law to criminalize Israeli actions,
falsely claiming that "phosphorous and cluster bombs" are "illegal weapons
prohibited by International Humanitarian Law."

. Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) (grants authorized in
2006-2008: $2,671,443) has a wide agenda in Israel, but frequently employs
rhetoric that contributes to demonization and delegitimization. For example,
its 2008 annual report labeled Israel's policies in the West Bank
"Apartheid," and ACRI representatives have referred to "institutional
racism" in Palestinian forums. Many legal claims in its reports are
distortions or selective interpretations of international humanitarian law.

Goldstone excerpt: "In a report reviewed by the Mission, the Association for
Civil Rights in Israel stated that, in Jerusalem "discrimination in planning
and building, expropriation of lands, and minimal investment in physical
infrastructure and government and municipal services - these are concrete
expressions of an Israeli policy designed to secure a Jewish majority in
Jerusalem and push Palestinian residents outside the city's borders." (para.
1536)

. Ir Amim (grants authorized in 2006-2008: $958,237) focuses on "legal
advocacy aimed at halting or mitigating unilateral actions that harm the
fabric of life in Jerusalem, and create obstacles to reaching an agreed-upon
future for the city and the region." In reality, Ir Amim advocates and
campaigns exclusively for the Palestinian narrative on Jerusalem, adopting
the offensive PLO rhetoric of "Judaization", and directing these efforts at
influencing foreign journalists, diplomats, and opinion-makers.

Jerusalem Moments, a film series produced by Ir Amim, was described
Jerusalem Post Editor David Horovitz as "an exercise in the bludgeoning
documentation of Palestinian victimhood and of allegedly mindless Israeli
cruelty and aggression," and a "skewed misportrayal."

. Mada al-Carmel, the Arab Center for Applied Social Research (grants
authorized in 2006-2008: $450,000) helped compose the "Haifa Declaration," a
document that calls for a "change in the definition of the State of Israel
from a Jewish state" and accuses Israel of "exploiting" the Holocaust "at
the expense of the Palestinian people." This NGO - in partnership with Women
Against Violence (grants authorized in 2006-2008: $794,500) and the Arab
Forum for Sexuality, Education and Health (grants authorized in 2006-2008:
$72,408) - launched the "My Land, Space, Body and Sexuality: Palestinians in
the Shadow of the Wall" campaign. This project was publicized with a poster
portraying an Israeli soldier reaching suggestively toward a Palestinian
woman, alongside the caption: "Her husband needs a permit to touch her. The
occupation penetrates her life everyday!" An NIF-UK official defended the
poster: "NIF will continue to support them in the interests of sustaining
[Israel's] vibrant democracy."

In 2008, Mada al-Carmel organized a conference [link broken] entitled,
"Sixty Years of Nakba - Homeland as Exile: Loss, Alienation and Forms of
Resistance," as part of its agenda to "to ensure the regaining of usurped
rights for the Palestinian people."

. Mossawa (grants authorized in 2006-2008: $517,642) claims in its mission
statement to focus on changing "the social and political status of
Arab/Palestinians in Israel in an attempt to gain minority recognition and
rights, without sacrificing their national and cultural rights as
Palestinians." In contrast, Mossawa's main activities utilize terminology
such as "racism" and similar pejoratives to describe Israel's policies.

In a November 2006 position paper proposing a constitution for Israel,
Mossawa called for the eradication of the Israeli flag and national anthem,
the right of the Arab minority to have a veto over matters of national
import, and the immediate implementation of the Palestinian "Right of
Return."

Mossawa joined other NIF grantees in a May 2009 letter to the Norwegian
Government Pension Fund (NGPF), calling "upon the Norwegian people to join
us in our efforts and to stop investing in the Israeli occupation of
Palestinian territory." The letter accused a number of Israeli and
international corporations of "provid[ing] specifically designed equipment
for the surveillance and repression of [the] Palestinian population through
restrictions of movement and collective punishments." In September 2009, the
NGPF adopted a policy of divestment from Israeli firms.
. Ittijah is a highly visible coalition of Israel-Arab political
organizations, including some NGOs funded by the NIF. (Ittijah does not
receive direct funding.) Representing these member groups, Ittijah played a
key coordinating role at the NGO Forum of the 2001 Durban Conference, which
adopted the BDS strategy. Similarly, in preparations for the Durban Review
Conference (April 2009), Ittijah led Palestinian "civil society" in a
campaign to "boycott Israel, to impose sanctions and to label it as a
colonial racist state under the Motto: Zionism is Racism -- Israel is an
Apartheid." During the Gaza fighting, Ittijah employed rhetoric comparing
Israeli responses to terror to the Nazis, accusing the IDF of turning Gaza
"into an extermination camp in the full whole meaning of the word, and in
the whole full historical relation of it."

NIF funding for Ittijah members for 2006-2008: Adalah (see above),
$1,045,292; Al-Ahali Association, $104,054; Al-Yater Association, $50,000;
Galilee Society (see below), $257,500; I'lam Center, $229,700; Mada
al-Carmel (see above), $450,000.
. Galilee Society (grants authorized in 2006-2008: $257,500) operates a
database project, "Rikaz," which has a stated aim of "contribut[ing]
accurate and compelling facts to advocacy campaigns and initiatives [in
Israel and internationally] on behalf of the Palestinian community." This
NGO publicizes "statistics" claiming to indicate "systematic discrimination"
against Arabs in education, employment, labor, living standards, social
indicators, and health. Galilee Society is a member of Ittijah, which calls
for boycotts of Israel under headlines proclaiming that "Zionism is Racism"
and "Israel is an Apartheid state."

Notes:
[1]"Submission of Human Rights Organizations based in Israel to the
Goldstone Inquiry Delegation," June 2009, p. 3.

[2] Ibid., p. 6.

[3] Ibid., p. 8.

[4] Ibid., p. 9.

[5] Ibid., p. 10.

[6] In fact, the Goldstone report chapters containing the allegations
regarding illegal use of these weapons did not produce independent
"confirmation," but rather relied on selective testimony and unverifiable
claims by witnesses, including unnamed "Palestinian and foreign doctors"
working in the Shifa hospital. (para. 49).