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The
US State Department has offered a grant of up to $987,654 for projects that
include reporting human rights
violations by Israel, raising concern about the potential for abuse
by organizations seeking boycotts, sanctions and international law tribunals
against Israel.
The
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announced “an open
competition for projects that strengthen accountability and human rights in
Israel and the West Bank and Gaza” last month, thought to be the first of its
kind from Washington.
The
proposals are meant to “collect, archive and maintain human rights documentation
to support justice and accountability and civil society-led advocacy efforts,
which may include documentation of legal or security sector violations and
housing, land and property rights.”
The
projects can also “take meaningful action in pursuing truth, accountability and
memorialization; and/or provide psychosocial support to survivors of
atrocities.”
DRL
will favor projects led by local organizations with a proven ability to
implement programs in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
The
contest rules state that applications cannot “reflect any type of support for
any member, affiliate or representative of a designated terrorist
organization.” Projects that directly benefit foreign militaries or
paramilitary groups will also not be considered.
Applicants
must pass vetting to evaluate the risk that the funding will go to terrorists
or their supporters, according to the State Department website.
Prof.
Gerald Steinberg, director of NGO Monitor, which tracks funding for NGOs dealing
with Israel-related issues, said he has never seen a US funding announcement of
this kind.
US
funding “generally was not for these more political NGOs under the headings of
human rights,” he said.
Steinberg
wrote a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying that NGO projects
of the kind described “are exploited for campaigns targeting Israel. These
grantees lobby the International Criminal Court and UN frameworks – such as
biased Commissions of Inquiry – to sanction Israel, promote BDS and use the
‘apartheid’ label.”
The
Biden administration has opposed the ICC investigation of Israel, the use of “apartheid” to
describe Israel, and the UN Commission of Inquiry against Israel.
“In
light of the Biden Administration’s repeated rejection of such campaigns, we
call on the State Department to reconsider this program,” Steinberg wrote. “If
however the NOFO [notice of funding opportunity] proceeds, the application of
clear and rigorous safeguards will be necessary to ensure that taxpayer funds
are not provided to organizations advancing a discriminatory, anti-Israel
agenda under the façade of accountability and human rights.”
According
to Steinberg, “the language [of the NOFO] is reflective of what European
governments use to justify funding organizations like Al Haq and Breaking the
Silence,” Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations, respectively,
that have advocated for boycotts of Israel and for Israeli officials to be
tried for war crimes.
“It’s
hard to see any other explanation for this type of grant,” he said.
Such
human rights organizations targeting Israel are “an industry on the order of at
least $50 million to Israel and Palestinian groups from European governments,
plus there is UN support. It’s even more if you include Human Rights Watch and
Amnesty” – which have accused Israel of being an apartheid state – “and this
funding could, in theory, go to them,” Steinberg said.
Blinken
recently met with Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth and
Amnesty’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard, releasing only a brief tweet in
which he said: “We support the important work of human rights defenders.” He
commended their work in a speech about the genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar.
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This provides willing shills the oportunity to, not report, but to compose. Which is precicely what is intended. Clearly, the current US government has become anti-Israel.
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