NGO Monitor

NGO Monitor (Non-governmental organization monitor) is a pro-Israel lobby group founded by Gerald M. Steinberg. It is a project with the stated aim of monitoring non-governmental organisations operating in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. NGO Monitor describes its goal as "to end to [sic] 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." According to Israeli journalist Didi Remez, the organization works closely with the Institute for Zionist Strategies, led by Israel Harel, a founder of the far right Gush Emunim settler movement, and Ron Dermer, chief of policy planning in Benjamin Netanyahu's Office.

Origins

As Yacoub Kahlen and Robert E. Foxsohn write:

NGO Monitor, founded by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has for some time now been deliberately spreading false and misleading information about organisations in an attempt to discredit them. Their targets include some of the most established and respected human rights organisations. While their efforts to stifle a critical dialogue have proved unsuccessful, their efforts are relentless and it is important that they be exposed as part of an extremist, right wing institution. They should not be taken seriously by anyone interested in peace and human rights.

NGO Monitor, a web-based project of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, was founded jointly with B'nai B'rith, a long-time, vocal supporter of Israel in the US.

To an outsider, NGO Monitor appears to be a serious and neutral initiative. NGO Monitor states that it is "promoting critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs in the Arab-Israeli conflict" [sic]. However, on closer examination, it is very obvious that the "debate" NGO Monitor is referring to is one that offers a blanket rejection of any criticism of Israel and its violations of human rights. It begs the question of whether NGO Monitor has any idea of what a "debate" actually is.

In fact, NGO Monitor shows that the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, in line with most other vocal supporters of Israel, is keen on vilifying any and all critics of Israel and conveniently ignoring the human rights violations and war crimes of Israel and its security agencies.

NGO Monitor is a programme of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and was formerly a joint project with B'nai Brith International.

Activities

NGO Monitor has campaigned against several international human rights organisations, including Christian Aid for its alleged "extensive involvement in anti-Israel propaganda campaigns" and Human Rights Watch whose reports it claims to be "systematically and exceedingly biased", Amnesty International, Oxfam and Medecins Sans Frontieres

It has also criticised the Ford Foundation for funding NGOs, such as the Palestinian human rights organisation Al Mezan Center, allegedly involved in "blatantly political anti-Israel activities". Subsequent to this criticism, the Ford Foundation modified its policies regarding funding of NGOs.

NGO Monitor criticised the New Israel Fund for funding organisations 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 Monitor's criticism as "un-democratic and un-Jewish" and "inherently and fundamentally flawed."

Campaigns Against Human Rights NGOs

Amnesty International

In 2009 NGO monitored issued a "report" focused on illustrating Amnesty International's (AI) "bias" and "disproportionate" attention on Israel-Palestine. While conceding that AI devoted considerable attention to Iran's 2009 election crisis, NGO Monitor report argues that the "NGO superpower continued to disproportionally focus on Israel and ignore abuses in other Mideast countries."

The 2010 appointment of Salil Shetty as Amnesty International's Secretary General prompted Steinberg to write a letter on behalf of his group NGO Monitor urging Shetty to reform Amnesty for what he considers "systemic bias, lack of credibility, and violation of universal principles in many of its activities."

Other Campaigns

The Electronic Intifada

In November 2010 NGO Monitor launched a campaign against a Dutch foundation, ICCO, which is one of the funders of the pro-Palestinian online publication The Electronic Intifada. The campaign was lent public support by the rightwing Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal.

Praise and Criticism of Activities

Praise

Describing it as a "friend of Israel", the Jewish Watch Dog site states that NGO Monitor was created "to promote accountability, and advance a vigorous discussion on the reports and activities of humanitarian NGOs in the framework of the Arab-Israeli conflict." David Bedein of David Horowitz' magazine FrontPageMag.com describes it as a "watchdog organization".

NGO Monitor's reports appear regularly on the "Around the World" section of the "Hotbeds of Prejudice" subpage of the Israeli Hasbara Committee website.

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." Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community Based Organisations in Israel, labels NGO Monitor as "an organ of the American pro-Israel lobby."

According to Israeli human rights activist, Didi Remez:

NGO Monitor is not an objective watchdog: It is a partisan operation that suppresses its perceived ideological adversaries through the sophisticated use of McCarthyite techniques - blacklisting, guilt by association and selective filtering of facts.

People

Staff

Apart from interns, its staff (circa 2009) includes:

• 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, Founder, President, 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)
• Simon Plosker, Managing Editor (formerly public affairs officer for the Board of Deputies of British Jews and British Aliyah Movement co-ordinator)
• Aharon Etengoff, Webmaster and Senior Researcher (formerly of the Photography & Film and Public Relations Departments of the IDF Spokesperson’s Office

Gerald Steinberg – Founder/President/	Dov Yarden – Chief Executive Officer	Sarah Mandel – Associate Editor
Naftali Balanson – Managing Editor	Anne Herzberg – Director of Research and Legal Advisor	Dan Kosky – Communications Director
Yael Beck – Senior Researcher	Merav Fima – Researcher	Hillel Katchen – Researcher
Oliver Moore – Research Fellow	Paul Gross – Communications and Public Relations
Source

International advisory board

Elie Wiesel | Professor Alan Dershowitz | R. James Woolsey | Fiamma Nirenstein | Amb. Yehuda Avner | Tom Gross | Michael Gove MP | Douglas Murray | Judea Pearl | Ruth Wisse | Elliott Abrams

Other NGOs Reviewed

Adalah	Advocacy Project	Al-Haq
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights	Alternatives	American Near East Rescue Aid
Amnesty International	Arab Association of Human Rights	Ard el Atfal and Ard el Insan
Association for the Defence of the Rights of the Internally Displaced (ADRID)	B'Tselem	CARE
Caritas	Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine	Christian Aid (UK)
Christian Peacemaker Teams	Defence for Children International / Palestine Section	Direct Relief International
Doctors Without Borders	Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network	Ford Foundation
Galilee Society	Grassroots International	Habitat International Coalition
HaMoked - Center for the Defense of the Individual	HDIP	Hebron Restoration Committee
Human Rights Association	Human Rights Watch	IBDAA
International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development - Rights and Democracy (ICHRDD)	I'lam	International Commission of Jurists
International Federation of Human Rights	International Solidarity Movement	Israel Committee against House Demolitions
Ittijah	Jerusalem Media and Communication Center	Law
Machsom Watch	Medecins du Monde	Medical Aid for Palestinians (UK)
MENGOS	Mennonite Central Committee	Miftah
New Israel Fund	Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAAL)	Oxfam Belgium
Palestine Children's Relief Fund	Palestine Children's Welfare Fund	Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel	Palestinian NGO Network	PENGON
PYALARA	Rabbis for Human Rights	Save the Children Fund
Terre des Hommes	War On Want (UK)	World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)
World Vision International	Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees	United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
UN Commission on Human Rights (Geneva)	UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)	USAID
YMCA / YWCA	Zeina
From NGO monitor's website, but list is outdated

Contact, References and Resources

Contact

Website: www.ngo-monitor.org

Resources

• 'Biography: Ambassador Dore Gold', JCPA website, accessed 2 April, 2009.
• Mohammed Salah Al-Attar, 'The Israeli NGO's Monitor: Aims, purposes and mixture of claims, deformation of facts and illusions', web.archive.org/Al-Jazeerah, 9 January, 2004.