‘Critic to Israel’: Document reveals how Israel scrutinised global NGOs

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The file, a spreadsheet that we accessed via an Israeli ministry website, listed more than 150 charities and basic details, such as the director’s name at the time, the organisation’s address, telephone number, email and area of work. But in a “comments” column, 15 were remarked upon with statements such as “critic of Israel” in the case of France-based Premiere Urgence Internationale, “involved in anti-Israel campaigning” for the Geneva-based Defence for Children International and “highly involved in BDS” – meaning the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign – to describe Mundubat in Spain. The document suggested Oxfam was “active in global BDS efforts” and encouraged NGOs to join “violations of international law” by supporting projects in the occupied West Bank “even if they have not been approved by the Israeli Civil Administration”. Oxfam told Al Jazeera the comments “appear to reflect allegations and interpretations, rather than an objective assessment” of its work. “As a long-established humanitarian organisation operating under rigorous compliance and accountability standards, we reject assertions that are not supported by credible evidence. Oxfam does not support or promote the BDS movement.” The spokesperson said the charity upholds international law and added that Israeli “settlements violate international humanitarian law”. According to Tania Hary, executive director of Gisha, an Israeli NGO that advocates for the freedom of movement for Palestinians, the document “has nothing to do with security”. Rather, she said, it is “further proof that the Israeli government has been tracking the activities of organisations that do life-saving work for Palestinians living under Israel’s brutal occupation for decades”. Gisha was not among those named in the file. The spreadsheet was obtained online via the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, then known as Israel’s Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Social Services. The ministry did not reply to Al Jazeera’s request for comment. Many of the comments cite as their source NGO Monitor, an Israel-based organisation that describes itself as a nonpartisan research institute. NGO Monitor’s website, however, lists campaigns that include “Mapping the anti-Israel NGO network in the US”. A report on the website reads: “Palestinian NGOs deny the very existence of Palestinian terror.” Mayssoun Sukarieh, senior lecturer in the Department of International Development at King’s College London, described NGO Monitor as a “right-wing” organisation “that monitors people who are pro-Palestine”. The document was created in October 2013, a time when the BDS movement against Israel was gaining momentum. That year, the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking refused to join a conference in Israel over the occupation of Palestine, several student bodies adopted academic boycotts and Canada’s largest Protestant church, the United Church of Canada, began a campaign against goods made in Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law. Experts said the file shows Israel’s methodology in monitoring charities and the BDS movement four years before it passed a law barring entry to anyone supporting the campaign. In 2013, “Israel was starting to feel the bite of BDS, and the ministry wanted to cross-reference different aspects of these organisations,” Sukarieh said. “Perhaps they were collecting data to reach that law,” she added, referring to the 2017 ban on BDS supporters. Giovanni Fassina, director of the European Legal Support Center, said the list was compiled in the “hype of the years Israel was passing laws and fighting BDS”. “In 2011, [Israel] enacted a law that imposes sanctions on any individual or entity that calls for an economic, cultural or academic boycott of Israel’s West Bank settlements or of Israel itself,” he said. Israel has been “blacklisting” groups and individuals “for a long time” using a network that includes groups like NGO Monitor, he added. “This is not a new tactic. They have been doing this since 2013. In my opinion, the document shows the start of that process.” Other charities with comments in the spreadsheet include the Spanish NGO ACSUR-Las Segovias, Denmark’s DanChurchAid, Diakonia/NAD of Sweden and Norway, Stockholm-based Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, the United Kingdom-based Medical Aid for Palestinians, Germany’s Medico International, Norwegian Refugee Council, Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden, Belgium’s Solidarite Socialiste, Vento di Terra Onlus in Italy and World Vision International, headquartered in the UK. The file noted that Tsafrir Cohen, director of Medico International, wrote about BDS campaigns, urged politicians to pressure Israel and was among a group of authors behind a 2012 report titled Trading Away Peace, which explored Europe’s role in helping to sustain Israeli settlements. “The report did not even call for sanctions,” Medico’s Riad Othman told Al Jazeera, describing it as “rather tame”. He said the file obtained by Al Jazeera signalled an “overreaction on the part of Israel”. “What was feared was this: If differentiation between the economy of occupation and land theft and the economy of Israel proper is impossible, where does that leave the Israeli economy as a whole in a future scenario?” He said Medico has neither supported the boycott movement nor called for it. “However, we have publicly defended the right of individuals and groups to call for a boycott,” he said. The Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden, which no longer has staff or an office in occupied Palestinian territory, said it was a “known fact” Israeli officials closely monitor networks that support the Palestinian cause. “They particularly view the nonviolent BDS movement as a strategic threat,” a spokesperson told Al Jazeera. The document noted that a representative from the Swedish NGO had tried to deliver aid to Gaza by boat as part of a flotilla, that the group was “active in BDS” and “actively campaigned to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement”. “We were and still are active in BDS, proudly so. We believe it is the most effective strategy to realise the rights of the Palestinian people and force Israel to adhere to international law,” the spokesperson said. The NGO sector’s relationship with Israel was more recently thrown into the spotlight during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians since it began in October 2023, according to health officials. Throughout the onslaught, which began after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel, Israeli authorities have restricted charities from sending life-saving aid into the Gaza Strip, barred foreign humanitarian workers and doctors from entering, and demanded 37 NGOs provide personal details of their Palestinian staff to continue their work in Gaza. Sukarieh at King’s College London said international charities have “always” been present in Palestine, doing “essential work”. But over the years, “so many restrictions” have been put in place by Israel and “constant monitoring too”. 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