JERUSALEM – In advance of Israeli Independence Day next week, NGO Monitor has examined three Israeli NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that actively promote a “one-state” framework, which in effect, would mean the eradication of Israel as a Jewish state. This directly contradicts the “two-states for two peoples” formula backed by the international community, including European governments that allocate taxpayer funds that support the agendas of these organizations.

“Direct and indirect European government funding for NGOs that promote a ‘one-state’ agenda is fundamentally immoral” said Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. “Some funders have reviewed and severed relationships with anti-peace NGOs. These examples should be a model for others, including government-funding for radical church-based aid agencies.”

NGO Monitor’s detailed research shows that the following NGOs promote a destructive vision for the Middle East that does not include the right of the Jewish people to sovereign equality:

1. Zochrot – Zochrot (Hebrew for ‘remembrance’) is an Israeli NGO that aims to “raise public awareness of the Palestinian Nakba” (Arabic for catastrophe, referring to 1948) and to “recogniz[e] and materializ[e] the right of return.” As explained by director Eitan Bronstein, “When the refugees return, Jews will become a minority in the country. Israel as a Jewish state will change radically, and it will no longer be defined as such.”Following a trip to Cape Town in 2012, in order “to learn from cases of expulsion and return,” Zochrot published “The Cape Town Document,” which states, “It is our hope that the new political structure created in de-Zionized Palestine will be that of a single democratic state.”

   Read NGO Monitor’s new report on Zochrot’s activities and funding

2. Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) – ICAHD explicitly advocates for the elimination of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, stating that “the only option for resolving the conflict [is] a one-state solution.” Director Jeff Halper has said
   (2008): “I think it is impossible to have a Jewish state.”

1. Alternative Information Center (AIC) Founder and head, Michael Warschawski has said that “one has to unequivocally reject the very idea (and existence) of a Jewish state, whatever will be its borders,” and has written that “Peace, or, better, justice, cannot be achieved without a total decolonization (one can say de-Zionisation) of the Israeli State.

“In addition, the destructive impact of this Israeli fringe is inflated far beyond their numbers due to amplification, particularly from online NGOs such as Social TV and +972 Magazine,” continued Steinberg. “The funders of these groups enable the anti-Israel demonization campaigns and share the moral responsibility for promoting them.”

Additional Notes on Funding Sources:

• Funding for Zochrot’s campaigns comes from powerful European Catholic and Protestant aid organizations. All of these organizations are funded by European governments that officially support the two-state solution. Zochrot funders for 2012/2013 include Medico International (Germany), Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), Christian Aid (UK), and ICCO (the Netherlands).

Israeli NGOs

• ICAHD lists the following donors on its website: the EU, Spain, Trocaire (Ireland), Mennonite Central Committee, UNDP, NDC (Funding consortium managed by Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden) and World Vision. Due to the organization’s radical activities, the EU suspended its funding for ICAHD in 2008. In 2013, because of financial instability, ICAHD closed its Jerusalem office.
• AIC funders for 2012/2013 include: The European Union, Diakonia (Sweden), ICCO, Mundubat (Spain), France (via CCFD, UJFP, Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de, and Foundation France), and the Geneva Municipality.

Israeli NGOs