Type of site | NGO |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Owner | Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs |
URL | ngo-monitor.org |
Commercial | No |
NGO Monitor (Non-governmental Organization Monitor) is a non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem whose stated objective is to "end to 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." [1] The organization was founded jointly by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and the U.S.-based [2] Wechsler Family Foundation.[3]
NGO Monitor in its mission statement says it was founded to "to promote accountability, and advance a vigorous discussion on the reports and activities of humanitarian NGOs in the framework of the Arab-Israeli conflict." The Economist and Jewish Telegraphic Agency identify NGO Monitor as a pro-Israel non-governmental organization.[4][5]
Structure, staff and funding
NGO Monitor is the central project of the Organization for NGO Responsibility, a self-described independent non-profit organization registered in Israel operating out of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Institute for Contemporary Affairs whose president is Dore Gold, a former ambassador to the United Nations for Israel and adviser to Ariel Sharon.[6] Its editor is Gerald M. Steinberg, a professor at Bar-Ilan University and a columnist for the Jerusalem Post.[7][8] It was formerly a joint project of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and B'nai Brith International founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation.[3] Its staff includes:[1]
- Gerald M. Steinberg, Executive Director: 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.[9]
- Sarah Mandel, Associate Editor.
- Anne Herzberg, Director of Research and Legal Advisor.
- Dan Kosky, Communications Director.
- Andre Oboler, Legacy Heritage Fellow.
NGO Monitor states that it was founded with funding from the Wechsler Family Foundation originally directed to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs[10] and from Harry Wechsler.[11] Nina Rosenwald, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA),[12] is another NGO Monitor donor.[13]
Activities
NGO Monitor maintains a directory of NGOs worldwide,[14] which generally includes a description, a quote from the organisation itself, who funds it, and if NGO-Monitor perceives the NGO as anti-Israel, includes a brief justification. NGO-Monitor also contains considerable material in relation to the first Durban Conference,[15] the Durban strategy of divestment and boycott,[16] as well as considerable discussion regarding the upcoming Durban Review Conference.[17]
NGO Monitor held a conference in Jerusalem with the stated aim of encouraging critical debate on the role of NGO’s in the Middle East conflict, with twenty-one humanitarian aid groups in attendance. A panel discussed the pros and cons of NGOs dealing with Hamas. [18][19] NGO’s such as Amnesty International, B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights were invited to speak but declined.[18] Amnesty International said the conference did "not give a balanced ground for open and fair dialogue" while another human rights group accused NGO Monitor of "partiality".[19]
NGO Monitor has criticized several major international human rights organizations, such as Christian Aid (for ignoring "Palestinian responsibility in the conflict" and minimizing "Israel’s right to self-defense."[20] Human Rights Watch,[21] Amnesty International,[22] Oxfam,[22] the Center for Constitutional Rights and Medecins Sans Frontieres (also known as Doctors Without Borders).[23]
The organization formerly criticized the Ford Foundation for funding a group which it accuses of condoning violence against Israel.[24] The Ford Foundation has modified its policies regarding funding of NGOs.[25] It also has taken exception to such accusations and says its involvement in the Palestinian territories reflects its belief that a just solution to the conflict is vitally important to the region and the peoples directly affected and that it also funds groups such as the New Israel Fund.[26]
NGO Monitor also states that B'Tselem, an NGO that calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories", has employed "abusive and demonizing rhetoric designed to elicit political support for Palestinians".[27]
On 12 October 2006 NGO monitor has made a submission to the Government of the United Kingdom on the funding of Israeli NGOs.[28]
Criticism
A 2005 article in Forward takes issue with NGO Monitor's statement that Human Rights Watch (HRW) places “extreme emphasis on critical assessments of Israel” and has issued more reports about HRW than on any other of the 75 NGOs it concerns itself with. In his article, Leonard Fein writes that HRW has devoted more attention to five other nations in the region — Iraq, Sudan, Egypt, Turkey and Iran — than they have to Israel; but that, despite extensive correspondence, editor Steinberg has failed to correct the "misleading" claim about HRW on the NGO Watch website. Fein argues that NGO Monitor may not be free of the "narrow political and ideological preferences” of which it accuses HRW.[8] Kathleen Peratis, a member of the board of Human Rights Watch, has criticized NGO Monitor for accusing Human Right Watch's "executive director, whose father fled Nazi Germany, of anti-Semitism". Peratis has further criticized NGO Monitor for not saying where or when HRW claims have been unverifiable.[29]
NGO Monitor has criticized the New Israel Fund, which states that its primary objective is "to strengthen Israel's democracy", for funding organizations that NGO Monitor claims are engaged in a "campaign to delegitimize Israel." These claims were denied by the President of the New Israel Fund and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, Peter Edelman, who described NGO Monitor's criticism as "un-democratic and un-Jewish" and "inherently and fundamentally flawed." [30] Larry Garber, Executive Director of the New Israel Fund, and Elizier Yaari, NIF's Israel Director and a retired Israeli air force major[31], wrote in an op-ed for The Jerusalem Post that if Israel were to accept the premises of Gerald Steinberg, the director of NGO Monitor, then "Israel's credibility - and, more important, the nation's morality - will suffer."[32]
In an article for Political Research Associates, which describes itself as "a progressive think tank devoted to supporting movements that are building a more just and inclusive democratic society"[33], Jean Hardisty and Elizabeth Furdon describe NGO Monitor as a "conservative NGO watchdog group,...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."[34]
Uriel Heilman, a Managing Editor for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) and a senior reporter for the Jerusalem Post, writes that there were a "couple of disingenuous (read: inaccurate) elements" in the May 2009 digest of NGO Monitor. Heilman rhetorically asked whether the situation itself was "enough for Steinberg and NGO Monitor's followers without Steinberg having to stretch the truth?" Gerald Steinberg, head of NGO Monitor, later conceded the phrasing was confusing and revised the statement.[35]
Naomi Chazan, in an article for the Jerusalem Post, wrote that Gerald Steinberg, one of "the self-appointed guardians of Israel's reputation", has taken symptomatic stances. "He places the blame for international criticism of the offensive on the human rights community here and abroad. His analysis would be comic in its predictability if his disinformation weren't so dangerous to core Israeli values," Chazan wrote. She continued that "in his assault on those who question the prudence of the Gaza offensive, Steinberg also stoops to misinformation and disseminates false facts".[36]
References
- ^ a b "About NGO Monitor". NGO Monitor.
- ^ Non-Profit Data: Exempt Organization Information
- ^ a b IMRA: Follow up on ISM and the death of Rachel Corrie
- ^ Boycotting Israel: New pariah on the block, The Economist, September 13, 2007.
- ^ Ha'aretz columnist dropped by British Zionists, JTA Breaking News, August 31, 2007.
- ^ Shlomo Greenwald. Ford Foundation Is Criticized on Mideast Funding. New York Sun. May 23, 2006.
- ^ http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~steing/index.shtml Faculty info
- ^ a b Leonard Fein (2005-05-20). "Monitoring The Monitor". Jewish Daily Forward.
- ^ "Professor Gerald M. Steinberg". Bar-Ilan University.
- ^ JCPA: Institute for Contemporary Affairs
- ^ NGO Monitor: "Gerald Steinberg debates Irene Khan, head of Amnesty International, on BBC World Service Radio"
- ^ Hudson Institute: Staff Bio
- ^ NGO Monitor: Founding Donor
- ^ Directory of Non Governmental Agencies Alpha by Country
- ^ NGO Monitor Reports on Durban at website
- ^ NGO Leadership in Boycott and Divestment Campaigns
- ^ Durban Review Conference 2009 at NGO Monitor site
- ^ a b European Jewish Press: EU to discuss Middle East NGOs funding
- ^ a b The Jerusalem Post: Major NGOs skip 'unfair' monitoring conference
- ^ "Christian Aid (UK)". NGO Monitor.
- ^ "Special Report: "Activity Summary of Human Rights Watch March 2003 - March 2004"". NGO Monitor.
- ^ a b ""Human Rights Groups are Working Against Peace"". NGO Monitor.
- ^ "´Political Humanitarianism´ and Medical NGOs". NGO Monitor.
- ^ NGO Monitor: Ford Foundation NGO Funding Update
- ^ netWMD: "Stunning Reversal"
- ^ Forward: Ford Foundation Backs Proponents of Peace
- ^ Betselem: Report Uses Outdated Sources and the Rhetoric of Demonization, NGO Monitor Analysis (Vol. 2 No. 12), August 15 2004.
- ^ The humanitarian and development situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Oral and written evidence By Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. International Development Committee. (Session 2007-08). Published by The Stationery Office, 2008 ISBN 0215523199 p 79
- ^ The Washington Post: Diversionary Strike On a Rights Group
- ^ NGO Monitor: Exchange of letters on NIF transparency and accountability
- ^ Jewish Tribune: New Israel Fund director responds to criticism
- ^ The Jerusalem Post: Who's really damaging Israel's image?
- ^ PublicEye.org: About PRA
- ^ Policing Civil Society Spring 2004, Political Research Associates
- ^ JTA: Playing fast and loose with the facts at NGO Monitor
- ^ Jerusalem Post: Critical Currents: War, human rights and democracy
External links
Official Links
News articles related to NGO Monitor
- "Watchdog groups brace for 'Durban 2'" - an article containing analysis from NGO Monitor appearing in The Jerusalem Post.
- "Right of Reply" - an op-ed about NGO Monitor appearing in The Jerusalem Post.
- "One on One: Fact, fiction and fabrication" - an interview with Sarah Mandel, Associate Editor at NGO Monitor, appearing in The Jerusalem Post.
- Israel, Aid Groups Have Long Feuded By Craig Whitlock, Washington Post Foreign Service, January 14, 2009