Norwegian Foreign Minister slams Lieberman on NGO's
During a visit to Israel, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Storr slammed Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for saying that NGO's are aiding terror organizations. In the harshest comments to date from a European statesman regarding the establishment of a parliamentary committee to investigate funding of the NGOs, Store said, “When leading politicians go out and compare and link NGOs to terror, I think it is very dangerous. These messages have enormous impact and create suspicion, mutual suspicion and a climate that democracy should not have. I think it is a worrying sign.”Lieberman did not say that the NGO's were connected to terror organizations. He said that they were aiding terror groups (assuming that the comments have been reported accurately). Given that it has already been proven that the NGO's supplied the bulk of the material used in the Goldstone Report, and that report has had a chilling effect on Israel's ability to fight terror and has subjected Israel to international condemnation for fighting terror. How is that not 'aiding terror groups'?
Lieberman on Sunday charged leftist NGOs with “aiding terror groups.”
Store, on a two-day visit, told the Post he was “very concerned” about the recent Knesset action on the NGOs.
“Israel is the democracy in this region,” he said. “A vibrant civil society, with organizations that say things which we don’t like as governments, is part of democracy, it is a test of a strong democracy.”
Moreover, no one has said that the NGO's do not have the right to say whatever they please. What has been said is that Israelis have the right to know who is financing the NGO's, because that allows us to place their statements in context, and perhaps to give less credibility to those who are being financed to make particular statements. For example, by Norway:
Norway is a significant donor to some 18 NGOs operating in Israel and the Palestinian Authority – such as the Palestinian Central Bureau for Statistics, the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizen’s Rights, and the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee – and the issue came up during a meeting Lieberman and Store held in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening.And I'm sure that has a lot to do with why Norway is concerned about this.
One other thing:
Spanish Ambassador Alvar Iranzo, whose country is another major contributor to the NGOs, told the Post that while he understood that on one hand this was naturally a domestic issue subject to internal legislation, the policy of the EU and most member states was to subsidize civil society in Israel, the PA and other countries, promoting the values of peace in the region.Where else in this region do the Europeans subsidize NGO's other than Israel and the 'Palestinian Authority,' both of whose NGO's are aimed at Israel? Perhaps if we had a transparent answer to that question, the Europeans wouldn't appear as biased against us as they do today.
Iranzo said that the EU would “not be too happy” if Israel made “things more difficult.”
But don't hold your breath waiting for an answer.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Avigdor Lieberman, human rights NGO's, Jonas Gahr Store
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:54 PM
3 Comments:
As Muhammed Ali said, "It ain't braggin if it's true." I think Norway looks pretty sheepish complaining that someone called terrorism, terrorism.
I don't understand. Since the NGO's are aiding and abetting terrorists, and the NGO's are funded by European governments, why not tell the simplest truth: that the Europeans are the same bunch of friggin anti-Semitic butchers they were 70 years ago.
Oh...... was I undiplomatic? So sorry!
There's helping terrorism as say the ISM activists rioting and blocking IDF efforts literally with PLO/Hamas lackeys and gunmen and "helping terrorism" via BSD--indirectly, tho' the end of that unending campaign's indirect chain of consequences is catastrophic.
NGO Monitor's Gerald Steinberg says he can't find funding of direct NGO-terrorist cooperation, that's his take (ISM claims not to take govt $).
Commentary and Gerald Steinberg) suggest Knesset transparency laws and EU inquiry (in place of Lieberman's investigation):
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/
index.php/alana-goodman/386505
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=202868
In the end it could be not a question of $ but free speech/right to association vs. banning BSD activities.
Post a Comment
<< Home