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Abstract
Israel has long sought to erase Palestinians, Palestinian resistance, and Palestinian organizations. In Israel’s latest rendition of erasure, Palestinian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have become the new target. By labeling NGO staff, and now NGOs, as “terror-affiliated,” Israel is attempting to silence these organizations by making it impossible for them to be funded. Looking at the case of Mohammed El Halabi from World Vision, one can see that it does not take much for donors to run scared: just using the “t” word is sufficient, with no need for evidence.
Endnotes
Notes
1 World Vision International, Jerusalem—West Bank—Gaza, “Mohammad El Halabi Trial Overview,” accessed 28 January 2022, https://www.wvi.org/jerusalem-west-bank-gaza/mohammad-el-halabi-trial-overview.
2 Peter Beaumont, “Israel Accuses World Vision’s Gaza Director of Diverting Cash to Hamas,” The Guardian, 4 August 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/04/israel-world-visions-gaza-director-diverting-cash-hamas-mohammed-el-halabi.
3 “Netanyahu: I Care More about Palestinians than Their Leaders Do,” Times of Israel, 11 August 2016, https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-claims-to-care-more-about-palestinians-than-their-leaders/.
4 Sophie McNeill, “World Vision Says Israel’s Claim Gaza Manager Diverted $50m to Hamas Does Not Add Up,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation News, 8 August 2016, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-09/save-the-children-and-world-vision-accused-of-hamas-links/7703370.
5 Eric Tlozek, “Australia Says There’s No Evidence He Stole Money, but This Palestinian Aid Worker Remains in Israeli Jail,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation News, 13 February 2020, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-13/world-vision-aid-worker-still-behind-bars-in-israel/11924658.
6 Daoud Kuttab, “Jailed 5 Years without a Fair Trial: My Questions for Mohammed Halabi’s Prosecutor,” Times of Israel (blog), 22 August 2021, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/jailed-5-years-with-no-trial-my-questions-for-mohammed-halabis-prosecutor/.
7 NGO Monitor, “World Vision’s Operations in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza,” 13 February 2020, https://www.ngo-monitor.org/reports/world-visions-operations-in-israel-the-west-bank-and-gaza/.
8 World Vision International, “Mohammad El Halabi Trial Overview,” accessed 28 January 2022, https://www.wvi.org/jerusalem-west-bank-gaza/mohammad-el-halabi-trial-overview; World Vision International, Jerusalem—West Bank—Gaza, “About Us,” accessed 28 January 2022, https://www.wvi.org/jerusalem-west-bank-gaza/about-us.
9 Aaron Boxerman, “Gantz Declares Six Palestinian Rights Groups ‘Terror Organizations,’” Times of Israel, 22 October 2021, https://www.timesofisrael.com/gantz-declares-six-palestinian-human-rights-groups-terrorist-organizations/.
10 Al-Haq, “Alert: Israel Takes Alarming Steps to Enforce Its Persecution of Six Palestinian Organisations in the West Bank, International Community Must Intervene,” 7 November 2021, https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/19179.html.
11 Jonathan Cook, “Behind the Ban on the Islamic Movement in Israel,” Middle East Report Online, 1 November 2016, https://merip.org/2016/01/behind-the-ban-on-the-islamic-movement-in-israel/.
12 Akiva Eldar, “The Constructive Destruction Option,” Haaretz, 25 October 2002, https://www.haaretz.com/1.5151801.
13 Michael Friedson, “Israel Deducting $597 Million from Funds Transferred to Palestinian Authority Due to ‘Pay to Slay,’” Media Line, 12 July 2021, https://themedialine.org/mideast-daily-news/israel-deducting-597-million-from-funds-transferred-to-palestinian-authority-due-to-pay-to-slay/.
14 NGO Monitor, “FAQs,” accessed 28 January 2022, https://www.ngo-monitor.org/about/faqs/.
15 NGO Monitor, “European Parliament to Host Terror-Linked NGO,” press release, 6 July 2017, https://www.ngo-monitor.org/press-releases/european-parliament-host-terror-linked-ngo/.
16 United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, “Israel’s ‘Terrorism’ Designation an Unjustified Attack on Palestinian Society—Bachelet,” 26 October 2021, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27708&LangID=E.
17 Nimer Sultany, “Activism and Legitimation in Israel’s Jurisprudence of Occupation,” Social and Legal Studies 23, no. 3 (March 2014): pp. 315–39, https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663914521449.
18 NGO Monitor, “HRW/FIDH/OMCT Statement on NGO Official Linked to PFLP: Summary,” 14 May 2007, https://www.ngo-monitor.org/reports/hrw_fidh_omct_statement_on_ngo_official_linked_to_terror_group/.
19 Human Rights Watch, “Israel/Palestine: Designation of Palestinian Rights Groups as Terrorists: Attack on the Human Rights Movement,” 22 October 2021, https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/22/israel/palestine-designation-palestinian-rights-groups-terrorists.
20 Office of Manu Pineda, “Statement of the Chair Manu Pineda on the Designation of Palestinian Rights Groups as ‘Terrorist Organizations’ by Israel,” Delegations—European Parliament, 25 October 2021, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/delegations/de/product/product-details/20211025DPU31524.
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Diana Buttu
Diana Buttu is a Haifa-based human rights lawyer, analyst, and member of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights.