NGO Monitor
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NGO Monitor (Non-governmental organization monitor) is an Israeli non-governmental organization with the stated aim of monitoring other non-governmental organizations operating in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. NGO Monitor describes its goal as "end[ing] the practice used by certain self-declared 'humanitarian NGOs' of exploiting the label 'universal human rights values' to promote politically and ideologically motivated anti-Israel agendas."
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[edit] Structure and staff
It is a program of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and was formerly a joint project with B'nai Brith International.[1].
Apart from interns, its staff includes[2]:
- Dr. Dore Gold, Publisher (a former Israeli ambassador, currently President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon)
- Gerald M. Steinberg, Editor (Professor of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Program on Conflict Management and Negotiation; also a Senior Research Associate at the BESA Center for Strategic Studies, a consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Security Council, and a columnist)[3]
- Simon Plosker, Managing Editor (formerly public affairs officer for the Board of Deputies of British Jews and British Aliyah Movement co-ordinator)[4]
- Aharon Etengoff, Webmaster and Senior Researcher (formerly of the Photography & Film and Public Relations Departments of the IDF Spokesperson’s Office)[5]
[edit] Activities
NGO Monitor has criticized several international human rights organisations, such as Christian Aid (for its alleged "extensive involvement in anti-Israel propaganda campaigns"[6]), Human Rights Watch (for being "systematically and exceedingly biased"[7]), Amnesty International,[8] Oxfam[9] and Medecins Sans Frontieres.[10]
It has also accused the Ford Foundation of funding organisations such as the Palestinian Al Mezan Center, which it claimed was involved in "blatantly political anti-Israel activities".[11] Subsequent to this criticism, the Ford Foundation modified its policies regarding funding of NGOs. [12]
NGO Monitor criticized the New Israel Fund for funding organizations that the NGO Monitor claims are engaged in a "campaign to delegitimize Israel." These claims where denied by the director of the New Israel Fund who described NGO Monitors criticism as "un-democratic and un-Jewish" and "inherently and fundamentally flawed." [13]
[edit] Praise and criticism of activities
[edit] Praise
David Bedein describes NGO Monitor as a "watchdog organization" in FrontPageMag.com article.[14] NGO Monitor's reports appear regularly on the "Around the World" section of the "Hotbeds of Prejudice" subpage of the Israeli Hasbara Committee website [15].
[edit] Criticism
Critics dismiss NGO Monitor as politically motivated and biased. At Political Research Associates, Jean Hardisty and Elizabeth Furdon describe it as a "conservative NGO watchdog group, NGO Monitor, which focuses on perceived threats to Israeli interests", adding that "The ideological slant of NGO Monitor's work is unabashedly pro-Israeli. It does not claim to be a politically neutral examination of NGO activities and practices."[16] Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community Based Organisations in Israel, labels NGO Monitor as "an organ of the American pro-Israel lobby." [17]
[edit] References
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- ^ Policing Civil Society Spring 2004, Political Research Associates
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[edit] External links
- NGO Monitor home page
- Ambassador Dore Gold's biography
- NGO Monitor should not be taken seriously by Yacoub Kahlen and Robert E. Foxsohn, The Electronic Intifada, 18 October 2005
- The Israeli NGO's Monitor: Aims, purposes and mixture of claims, deformation of facts and illusions (Al-Jazeerah)
