Israeli NGOs stand in solidarity with Palestinians
JVL Introduction
In a press release Btselem, Israel’s premier human-rights organisation along with dozens of other civil society organisations, join together to say simply: “Defense of human rights is not terrorism.”
What are these groups “guilty” of? Documentation, advocacy and legal aid – the core of human rights work around the world.
Only repressive regimes criminalise such acts.
For more details on this latest outrage by Israel see our statement Israel’s raids on Palestinian NGOs
This article was originally published by B'tselem on Sun 21 Aug 2022. Read the original here.
53 civil society organizations in solidarity with the Palestinian organizations designated by Israel as “terrorist groups”
Defense of human rights is not terrorism. Israel is persisting in its declaration of prominent Palestinian civil society organizations as terrorist groups. Recently, the military put words into action by raiding their offices and shutting them down.
These declarations are baseless. Indeed, the U.S. Administration, the European Union and other allies of Israel found Israel’s allegations unconvincing. After thoroughly examining the material Israel provided them, all of the European countries that are donors to these organizations decided to continue their support.
Documentation, advocacy and legal aid are the core of human rights work around the world. Criminalizing such activity is a deplorable act characteristic of repressive regimes.
We stand in solidarity with our fellow human rights defenders in Palestinian society. We repudiate these baseless declarations and call on the international community to pressure Israel to revoke its decision.
A Land for All | Academia for Equality | ACAP – The Arab Center for Alternative Planning | Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel | Akevot Institute | ASSAF |Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights | Breaking the Silence | B’Tselem | Coalition of Women Against Weapons | Combatants for Peace | Emek Shaveh | Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement | Gun Free Kitchen Tables | HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual | Haqel: In Defense of Human Rights | Harvest Coalition | Human Rights Defenders Fund | Ir Amim | Isha L’Isha | Itach Ma’aki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice | J Street | Kerem Navot | Looking the Occupation in the Eye | Machsom Watch | Mahapach-Taghir | Mehazkim | Mesarvot | Mothers Against Violence | Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equlity | New Israel Fund | Oz Veshalom: Israel’s Jewish Religious Peace Movement | Parents against Child Detention | Peace Now | Peace NGO Forum | Physicians for Human Rights Israel | Psychoactive | Rabbis for Human Rights | Recognition Forum | Sikkuy-Aufoq | Social TV | The Abraham Initiatives | The Association for Civil Rights in Israel | The Joint Democratic Initiative | The Parents Circle – Families Forum | The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel | The School for Peace | Torat Tzedek – Torah Of Justice | Women Against Violence | Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights | Yesh-Gvul | Zazim – Community Action | Zochrot
Whilst it is welcome that groups outside Israel like the New Israel Fund and J-Street have signed this statement it is noticeable that no Israeli civil society organisation of weight, like Universities or Colleges is prepared to issue a statement in support of what is just a fundamental democratic right.
What this situation shows is the utter demise of ‘left’ Zionism. Meretz and the Israeli Labour Party were part of the coalition which presided over this ban. They have said and done nothing. On the contrary Meretz, a so-called human rights party, demonised an Arab member of the Knesset Ms Zoabi who refused to support explicitly apartheid regulations that confirmed settlers were subject to Israeli civil law whilst Palestinians were subject to military law.
The cowardice of these people beggars belief but it should demonstrate to even the most obtuse person that Zionism today is a wholly reactionary ideology and movement. The fact that a few Zionists outside Israel don’t get it is immaterial
It is good to know that these organisations are there and active
EVEN America’s CIA publicly disagree with the claims by the Israeli government that the Palestinian human rights organisation they raided has anything to do with terrorism … Small progress perhaps but it is being made.
This is a comment on the JVL introduction, rather than the item itself ( – too obvious to comment on).
I’m homing in on a particular sentence: “Only repressive regimes criminalise such acts.”
Seriously? No kidding!
This sentence smacks of your ongoing need to explain and apologise for taking an anti-Zionist stand.
I think the facts on the ground have been obvious for decades, to all those privileged to have been exposed to information, even within the bounds of mainstream media, let alone beyond it, be they Jewish or otherwise.
It’s high time we took a non apologetic stand as concerns Zionism.
This is not a matter of abstract, aesthetic niceties – the logic, and indeed the dynamic of the the Zionist project is such that it will lead to mass ethnic cleansing accompanied, inevitably, by massacres.
We must all mobilise against it here and now, ignoring all background noise about fake “antisemitism”.
The above goes for Jews and non Jews alike.
And as for the latter: don’t worry about being accused of antisemitism on account of your objection to the Zionist entity. We, socialist descendants of Holocaust Eastern Europe and of East End combatants against fascism will let you know If, and when you’ve overstepped the limit between anti-Zionism and antisemitism…
As for the ‘J’ in JVL: please start considering yourselves as centre stage, not a marginalised cohort of the proverbial dogs barking at the passing caravan…
The signatories represent an impressive range of Israeli NGOs with widely differing viewpoints. I reckon many would self-describe as ‘left Zionist’.