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Israel
by Ben-Dror Yemini
O
n January 5, 2011, after months of heated public debate, the Israeli Knesset
established a parliamentary committee of inquiry to probe foreign funding of
Israeli nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) involved in the international
Israel delegitimization campaign.1 Was this a draconian, McCarthyist encroachment on
the freedom of press as claimed by left-wing groups and politicians, or a legitimate
attempt by a besieged democracy to fend off hostile intervention in its internal affairs as
argued by the legislations proponents?
.
lay
percent of the West Bank given to the Palestin-
isp
ians with Israeli compensation in kind for an-
td
nexed territories; Jerusalem partitioned on a
demographic basis; no return of refugees to
no
Israel with the problem solved by an interna-
ill
tional effort) or the not-so-different Ehud Olmert
ow
proposals at the 2007 Annapolis summit, most
of which were apparently accepted by the Pal-
ot
estinian leadership in the ensuing negotiations.11
Ph
Would this breakthrough be welcomed by
these NGOs? Hardly. A significant number of
human rights groups will do precisely what they Omar Barghouti is a Palestinian doctoral
have been doing in previous years: They will student at Tel Aviv University and a
conduct an international campaign against the prominent activist in the anti-Israel BDS
agreement claiming it fails to address the ba- (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions)
sic rights of the Palestinian people, first and movement. Despite lip service to human
foremost, the right of return. rights, the driving force behind the movement
These groups are part of a new empire is rejection of the two-state solution and
an empire comprised of official, international castigation of any Israeli-Palestinian
bodies such as the Human Rights Council of cooperation or Palestinian concessions for
the United Nations in Geneva, the U.N. General the sake of peace.
Assembly, and the many human rights
groups that voice a similar position. The auto-
matic majority bloc of nondemocratic states in human rights. In reality, the absolute majority of
international bodies is a sad testament to the these groups has a radical, political agenda,
state of the world community; the identification which at times is not only anti-Israel or anti-Zi-
of human rights organizations with this dark ma- onist but also anti-West.13 There are many in
jority is a tragedy for world human rights. There the West who hope that a solution to the Arab-
is little discussion of the lack of human rights in Israeli conflict will help resolve the wider con-
such brutal dictatorships as Syria or Libya; but flict between East and West. This is an illusion.
there is a disproportionate focus on Israel by The Afghan and Pakistani Taliban or al-Qaeda
these bodies,12 which in turn creates the false terrorists would have difficulty finding Israel on
impression that Israel, and not such states as the map.
Sudan or Iran (or North Korea for that matter), is
the foremost threat to world peace.
How has this come to pass? The West fi- REJECTIONIST NETWORK
nances an extensive network of NGOs with fund-
ing often going to projects feigning defense of The EU supports dozens of Israeli groups
dealing with the conflict, but only a handful of
these deal with the conflicts political dimension,
11 Haaretz (Tel Aviv), Jan. 24, 2011.
12 See, for instance, Bat Yeor, Delegitimizing the Jewish
State, Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2011, pp. 3-14. It was
only on January 26, 2011, after Muammar al-Qadhafi had been
slaughtering his subjects in full view of the world for some time, 13 Gerald M. Steinberg, NGOs Make War on Israel, Middle
that Libya was expelled from the U.N. Human Rights Council. East Quarterly, Summer 2004, pp. 13-25.
.
lay
turn and the total boycotting of
Israel. Yet this radical group is fi-
isp
nanced by the EU to the tune of
td
no 169,661 (US$232,198, for the
years 2010-12).17
On the Palestinian side, the
ill
ow