Adalah, an Israeli political advocacy NGO that receives significant funding from the European Union. At the same time, the organization employs an EU Advocacy Officer to “lobby European Union governments to continue their financial backing of the group,” in violation of the principles of good governance in democratic systems.
A significant portion of the NGO’s activities are devoted to delegitimizing Israel in international frameworks. For instance, Adalah wrote and edited large portions of “Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid?: A re-assessment of Israel’s practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law,” a document that delegitimizes Israeli self-defense measures as “inhumane act[s] of apartheid…perpetrated in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another.”
Adalah lobbying of the EU reinforces this highly politicized agenda, erases complexities and alternate viewpoints, and seeks further support for the NGO. In turn, EU officials repeat Adalah’s highly distorted version of events with automatic criticism of Israeli policy, and continue to fund the NGO.
- Adalah is currently receiving a three-year grant of €627,526 (2009-2012) from the EU. It also is a major grantee of the New Israel Fund (NIF), with over $1 million in authorized grants in 2007-2010.
- In contrast to EU justifications for funding Adalah based on promoting human rights within Israeli society, Adalah and its partners are very active outside of Israel in promoting a highly politicized narrative of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Either EU officials are unaware of these activities, or the funding justification is a façade.
- Miri Weingarten is Adalah’s EU Advocacy Officer. Weingarten has a long history of activism on behalf of NGOs and campaigns that promote delegitimization of Israel.
- Adalah’s lobbying of the EU is also facilitated and amplified by membership in the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN), which is also involved in intense partisan advocacy. EMHRN is another recipient of direct EU funding.
- Adalah has not registered with the EU database of lobbying organizations.
NGO Monitor’s report on Adalah was sent to the EU Delegation in Israel for comment. The brief response did not respond substantively to any of these issues.
