Israel Matzav: NIF fights dirty, smears NGO Monitor

Sunday, May 15, 2011

NIF fights dirty, smears NGO Monitor

You will recall that last Monday I reported that Deutche Bahn, the German national railway, was withdrawing from consulting role in the high speed railway that is under construction between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The withdrawal came about as a result of pressure from something called the Coalition of Women for Peace.

On Tuesday, I reported that - surprise! - the Coalition of Women for Peace is funded by the New Israel Fund with help from hostile European governments and liberal American Jews, many of whom may be clueless about what they are funding.

On Thursday, NGO Monitor issued a report on the funding and activities of the Coalition of Women for Peace. Among other things, it showed:

Israeli NGO, the Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP), describes itself as a "feminist organization against the occupation of Palestine and for a just peace." It has ten constituent member organizations.
Funded directly and indirectly by the governments of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Germany; the New Israel Fund; aid organizations such as Oxfam Novib, SIVMO, and Kvinna Till Kvinna; and private individuals.
This funding is used by CWP to promote global campaigns to de-legitimize Israel under the Durban strategy, including "Israel Apartheid Week," anti-Israeli rallies, the "Free Gaza Movement"; targeting Israel in the UN; lobbying the British Government on prosecution of "Israeli War Criminals" (lawfare); and hosting related events and lectures.
CWP is a leader in the boycotts, divestments, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. With radical allies such as "Code Pink," it advocates boycotting products from all of Israel, not restricted to the "occupied territories." Campaigns include the UC Berkeley divestment effort (2010), the Norwegian Government's Pension Fund which led to divestment from Elbit, and targeting of banks, security companies, civil infrastructure facilities, and private firms.
CWP's flagship BDS project "Who Profits?" is an online database initiated "in response to the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel," and "a key asset to the global movement of economic activism and BDS."

For its troubles, NGO Monitor was accused by the New Israel Fund of 'knowingly publish[ing] false information."

The most recently available public NIF grant information shows CWP received nearly $300,000 from 2006-2009. In addition to this grant, CWP's website continues to state that NIF accepts tax-exempt donations in the U.S., UK, and Switzerland on their behalf and on behalf of the "Who profits?" project. NIF still has not published its 2010-2011 grant information.

If you go here, you can also see that donations to CWP are directed through the New Israel Fund.

If you look around CWP's web page, you will find that much of its activity relates to boycotting Israel (and seeking to break the 'siege' on Gaza, which prevents at least some weapons from being brought in to there). A bunch of useful idiots.

Labels: BDS sewer system, Coalition of Women for Peace, New Israel Fund, NGO Monitor, useful idiots