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Midyear Report

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Midyear Report Midyear Report January - July 2017 Achievements and Successes CONFIDENTIAL Institute for NGO Research R.A. (580465508) NGO Monitor 2017 Mid-year Report Highlights On June 13, following months of NGO Monitor work with Swiss officials, journalists, and other partners, the Swiss Parliament passed a resolution directing the government to “amend the laws, ordinances and regulations” to prevent funding to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) “involved in racist, antisemitic or hate incitement actions.” This was the first time a European country passed legislation to end funding for NGOs that are vehicles for incitement and hate speech and that specifically includes antisemitism. On June 28, NGO Monitor and its Spanish partner ACOM brought Chair of Yesh Atid MK Yair Lapid to the Spanish Parliament to discuss our new report. The discussion highlighted Spanish government funding to organizations that support BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions), incite to violence, glorify terrorism, and/or have alleged links to terrorist organizations. In February, Prime Minister Netanyahu discussed British funding to radical NGOs active in the conflict with UK Prime Minister Theresa May. Prime Minister Netanyahu used NGO Monitor research to call upon the Danish FM to cut funding for Palestinian groups involved in BDS campaigns against Israel. Following this, in June, Denmark’s Foreign Minister announced a freeze of Danish government funding to Palestinian NGOs via the Secretariat, pending an investigation. In January, NGO Monitor moved to new offices in Talpiot, enabling the organization to continue to grow and achieve greater impact. In February, NGO Monitor released a new funding database, allowing easy access and analysis of NIS 235 million of foreign government funding to Israeli NGOs that are active in the conflict (2012-2016). In the past six months, NGO Monitor hosted a number of major events in Israel and abroad including at the UN and at the European Union. Due to governments taking action to curb funding to radical NGOs, many organizations and their allies have attacked NGO Monitor for our role in discrediting their biased campaigns and disrupting their funding sources. Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian Authority politician and NGO activist, spoke at a July event at the UN where he named NGO Monitor as a leader of the “Zionist Plan.” #580465508 (ע"ר) .Institute for NGO Research R.A 1 NGO Monitor 2017 Mid-year Report #580465508 (ע"ר) .Institute for NGO Research R.A 2 NGO Monitor 2017 Mid-year Report Ongoing Successes In 2014, NGO Monitor discovered that the authors of a one-sided and slanderous “Open Letter for the People of Gaza” published in The Lancet medical journal also promoted an antisemitic David Duke video. Following pressure from NGO Monitor and our allies, The Lancet's editor Richard Horton expressed his “deep, deep regret” for the “completely unnecessary polarization” the letter caused and condemned the antisemitic video promoted by the authors of the letter. In a continued effort to right this wrong, a special issue of the journal was published on May 8, 2017 focusing on health in Israel. In the press surrounding its publication, Horton criticized BDS campaigns and again emphasized that The Lancet “wanted to turn the unfortunate episode into a constructive and positive lever that will lead to recognition of Israel's advantages for global health.” Europe In April 2017, NGO Monitor contacted nearly 3,000 parliamentarians from the European Union, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, providing them with our report documenting a highly disturbing pattern of European government funding to NGOs that legitimize violent attacks against civilians and incite violence. The messages propagated by these organizations directly contradict the foreign policy goals of their government funders, and resonate in a global context of rising populism that rewards extremism, fear-mongering, and incitement. As detailed in our report, significant amounts of European government funding are allocated to European, Palestinian, and Israeli NGOs that repeatedly manipulate human rights rhetoric to denigrate security concerns and legitimize indiscriminate violence. Some of these groups also have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – a designated terrorist organization in the EU, US, Canada, and Israel. Our outreach resulted in immediate responses from parliamentarians from all targeted countries, and NGO Monitor was widely featured in Israeli and international media. Switzerland After years of NGO Monitor reports, presentations, and briefings – including with parliamentarians, government officials, diplomats, and journalists – documenting the issue of unchecked and unaccountable Swiss government funding to NGOs, in March 2017, the Swiss Lower House of Parliament voted (111 to 78 with 4 abstentions) to “amend the laws, ordinances and regulations so that Switzerland can no longer subsidize, even indirectly, development cooperation projects carried out by NGOs involved in racist, antisemitic or hate incitement actions….” On June 13, 2017, the Council of States (upper house) adopted the resolution. A final vote will take place in the Lower House in September, and a positive vote will end all direct and indirect Swiss funding to NGOs involved in these actions. This story was covered by all major Swiss news outlets. Denmark After months of meetings and briefings with Danish parliamentarians, on June 2, the Danish Foreign Minister halted distribution of Danish government funding to organizations via the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (“Secretariat”), a joint #580465508 (ע"ר) .Institute for NGO Research R.A 3 NGO Monitor 2017 Mid-year Report funding mechanism of the Danish, Dutch, Swedish, and Swiss governments. The statement explained that “all payments of Danish money to organizations within the donor secretariat” are frozen pending a “thorough investigation of all the organizations.” NGO Monitor research has shown that the Secretariat funds some of the most radical and anti-Israel organizations operating under the guise of human rights in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Denmark demanded a return of its funding to a Palestinian NGO following its involvement in the inauguration of a youth center named after the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi (see Norway above). NGO Monitor was invited to present a testimony at the Danish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee’s hearing on children in conflict and war zones. The event was scheduled for May 24, but was canceled due to pressure from NGOs worried about being contradicted by NGO Monitor’s experts. European Union NGO Monitor’s “Value for Money” report was cited in a draft motion for a European Parliament resolution on EU funding to NGOs submitted by the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control. In June 2017, NGO Monitor and MEP Patricija Sulin (EPP) hosted an event in the European Parliament, titled “Evaluating Impact: EU Funding to NGOs.” The panel, chaired by MEP Anders Primdahl Vistisen (ECR), served as a platform for a broad discussion on EU funding to NGOs, EU foreign policy, human rights, and environmentalism. NGO Monitor's own Tamar Kogman, Europe Desk Researcher, as well as a diverse group of experts and MEPs from across the political spectrum participated in the event that was attended by approximately 90 politicians and members of civil society. Spain In April, in collaboration with the Spanish organization ACOM, NGO Monitor published a new comprehensive report on Spanish government funding to organizations that support BDS, incite to violence, glorify terrorism, and/or have alleged links to terrorist organizations. The report was published in both Spanish and English (and an abridged Hebrew version) and demonstrates that Spanish funding to politicized NGOs is widespread and highly decentralized, correlating to several levels of governance in Spain. In total, politicized funding designated for NGO activities in the Arab-Israeli conflict amounted to over €5.1 million in 2015 alone. In June, NGO Monitor hosted two events in the Spanish Parliament, featuring Israeli MK and Chair of the Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid, #580465508 (ע"ר) .Institute for NGO Research R.A 4 NGO Monitor 2017 Mid-year Report where we presented our research on Spanish government funding to radical organizations. The events received broad media coverage in Israeli and Spanish media. Germany Last year, NGO Monitor provided German film producers with data on the role of NGO funding and activities in contributing to antisemitism in Europe and the Middle East to be used a documentary on European antisemitism. The film was scheduled to be aired in June 2017, however, in moves that triggered intense public criticism, a French-German broadcasting company (ARTE) refused to air it, as did the public German broadcasting company Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). In its press release, WDR alleged “inaccuracies” in NGO Monitor’s research, citing this as a reason not to air the film. Eventually, following public pressure, WDR and ARTE relented, but WDR attached an unprecedented set of “fact- checks” to the film – further attacking NGO Monitor. WDR’s actions and baseless and weak claims greatly embarrassed the broadcaster, and resulted in major publicity for the documentary and NGO Monitor. Norway NGO Monitor commended the Norwegian government’s decision to demand a return of its funding that was used for a youth center near Nabulus named after the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi,
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