Israel Matzav

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Im Tirtzu: Arab money supporting Israeli Leftist groups

In a report released on YNet's website on Monday night, Im Tirtzu, the group that exposed the New Israel Fund's connection to the Goldstone Report, described how Arab and European moneys fund Leftist groups in Israel.

According to Im Tirtzu, a centrist extra-parliamentary movement that "strives to strengthen the values of Zionism in Israel," the findings prove the need for the establishment of an inquiry commission. The report focuses on two Palestinian organizations – the Welfare Association and the NGO Development Center –which it claims work together to fund pro-Palestinian activities in Israel and the territories.

The report states that the organizations' yearly budget, which is estimated at tens of millions of dollars, comes from a number of sources: Countries and organizations in Europe - including the European Union, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland and Denmark – as well as Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Qatar.

According to Im Tirtzu, large banks, such as the Islamic Development Bank, as well as Arab funds, also allocate money to the Welfare Association and the NGO Development Center, which then transfer 97% of the funds to Palestinians in the territories and some 3% to leftist Israeli organizations.

The report also claims that the Welfare Association is directly involved in Arab activity in Israel, including a campaign against obligating Arab youths to participate in Israel's National Service program.

Im Tirtzu said that among the Israeli organizations to receive funds from the Welfare Association are Adalah, Mada al-Carmel and the Galilee Society.

According to the report, $2.65 million were allocated by the Welfare Association to finance activity in Israel, specifically to boost the socio-economic status of Arab-Israelis and to preserve and foster Palestinian national identity.

The Welfare Association also supports two local councils – Nazareth and Kafr Kana.

Over the past few years the Welfare Association's annual budget stood at roughly $40 million, making it one of the key channels for the transfer of funds to the Palestinians.

The Arab countries also fund 13 Israeli Leftist organizations including B'Tselem, Mossawa, Adalah, Breaking the Silence, Yesh Din, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, the Public Committee against Torture, HaMoked Center for the Defense of the Individual and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

Read the whole thing. A lot of the money is coming from Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Holland. I suspect that will be news to most Israelis. In particular, there's been a lot of hostility toward us from Sweden over the last couple of years (it was their media that accused the IDF of stealing organs from dead 'Palestinians'), and I suspect that a lot of Israelis will not be happy when and if they find out the truth.

Labels: Association for Civil Rights in Israel, B'Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Im Tirtzu, Physicians for Human Rights, Yesh Din

Friday, January 07, 2011

Caroline Glick on the NGO investigation

Caroline Glick weighs in on the proposal to investigate the sources of funding of Israel's NGO's.

ONE OF the reasons that false stories by the likes of B’Tselem and its fellow Israeli-staffed anti-Zionist pressure groups are treated with respect by the local media and the international community alike is because they are perceived as Israeli groups.

Why would Israelis lie about their own army? On Wednesday, the Knesset voted to form a commission of inquiry to examine these groups’ sources of funding. The rationale behind this parliamentary investigation is clear. The time has come to determine just how “Israeli” these organizations that form such an integral part of the international political war against Israel actually are. How much of their funding comes from foreign governments? And if their foreign funding is significant, then how can they claim to be Israeli groups? B’Tselem for instance receives funding from the British, Swiss and Irish governments, Christian Aid, the Ford Foundation, DanChurchAid (funded by the Danish government), Diakonia (funded by the Swedish and Norwegian governments and the EU), Trócaire (funded by the Irish and UK governments), and others.

Yesh Din, which specializes in conducting domestic lawfare against the IDF, is funded by the Irish, Dutch, British, German and Norwegian governments, the EU, and George Soros’s Open Society Institute.

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, Breaking the Silence, Bimkom, Peace Now, Gush Shalom, Adalah, the Geneva Initiative, the Committee for Peace and Security and so on and so forth all receive massive funding from foreign governments.

The Samaria Regional Council alleges that over the past decade, foreign governments have donated hundreds of millions of euros, dollars and shekels to these Israeli “grassroots” groups.

The fact is that these groups’ claim to grassroots status is as credible as their allegations of Israeli criminality and Palestinian victimhood. In truth, these NGOs are local agents of foreign governments who use them to advance their anti-Israel policies.

The Knesset’s move to investigate these groups was greeted by righteous rage from the groups’ leaders and sympathetic Leftist Knesset members.

The Knesset’s decision was castigated as “McCarthyite” and “anti-democratic.” But it is clear these groups and their parliamentary allies doth protest too much.

No one is talking about shutting them down. But the Israeli public has a right to know what these groups really are. And our political representatives have an obligation to investigate and expose subversive foreign agents. Israel and Israel’s democratic system are weakened, not strengthened, when the state’s international reputation and domestic discourse is hijacked by foreign governments who hide behind their Israeli foot soldiers.

She's got it right. For lots more evidence, read the whole thing.

Labels: B'Tselem, human rights NGO's, NGO funding, Physicians for Human Rights, Yesh Din