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'NGO Monitor' ('Non-governmental organization monitor') is an Israeli non-governmental organization with the stated aim of monitoring other non-governmental organizations operating in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. NGO Monitor describes its objective as "Promoting critical debate and accountability of Human Rights NGOs in the Arab Israeli conflict."^[1]

Contents

Structure and staff

Activities

Praise and criticism of activities

Praise

Criticism

References

External links

Structure and staff

NGO Monitor is the central project of the Organization for NGO Responsibility, an independent non-profit organization registered in Israel. It was formerly a joint project of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and B'nai Brith International founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation .^[2] NGO Monitor states that it was founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation. Nina Rosenwald, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA)^[3], is another NGO Monitor donor.^[4] Its staff includes:¹

★ Gerald M. Steinberg, Executive Director (Professor of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Program on Conflict Management and Negotiation; also a Senior Research Associate at the BESA Center for Strategic Studies, a consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Security Council, and a columnist)^[5]

★ Sarah Mandel, Associate Editor

★ Anne Herzberg, Director of Research and Legal Advisor
as well as several researchers and interns.

Activities

NGO Monitor has criticized several international human rights organisations, such as Christian Aid (for its alleged "extensive involvement in anti-Israel propaganda campaigns"^[6]), Human Rights Watch (for being "systematically and exceedingly biased"^[7]), Amnesty International,^[8] Oxfam⁸, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Medecins Sans Frontieres.^[9]
It has also accused the Ford Foundation of funding organisations such as the Palestinian Al Mezan Center, which it claimed was involved in "blatantly political anti-Israel activities".^[10] Subsequent to this criticism, the Ford Foundation modified its policies regarding funding of NGOs. ^[11]

Praise and criticism of activities

Praise

In an editorial for the online conservative political magazine FrontPageMag.com, David Bedein, bureau chief of the Israel Resource News Agency, describes NGO Monitor as a "watchdog organization".^[12]
NGO Monitor's reports appear regularly on the "Around the World" section of the "Hotbeds of Prejudice" subpage of the Israeli Hasbara Committee website ^[13], which defines itself as "a voluntary organisation" whose motto is "disseminating the truth about Israel and the Jewish people."

Criticism

NGO Monitor criticized the New Israel Fund, which states that its primary objective is to strengthen Israel's democracy, for funding organizations that the NGO Monitor claims are engaged in a "campaign to delegitimize Israel." These claims were denied by the President of the New Israel Fund and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, Peter Edelman, who described NGO Monitors criticism as "un-democratic and un-Jewish" and "inherently and fundamentally flawed." ^[14]
In an article for Political Research Associates, which describes itself as a progressive think tank devoted to supporting movements that are building a more just and inclusive democratic society^[15], Jean Hardisty and Elizabeth Furdon describe NGO Monitor as a "conservative NGO watchdog group, NGO Monitor, which focuses on perceived threats to Israeli interests", adding that "The ideological slant of NGO Monitor's work is unabashedly pro-Israeli. It does not claim to be a politically neutral examination of NGO activities and practices."^[16]
Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community Based Organisations in Israel, labels NGO Monitor as "an organ of the American pro-Israel lobby." ^[17] It has been claimed that NGO monitor has falsified claims about other NGOs. ^[18]

References

1. About NGO Monitor
2. [1]
3. Hudson Institute: Staff Bio
4. NGO Monitor: Founding Donor
5. Professor Gerald M. Steinberg
6. Christian Aid (UK)
7. Special Report: "Activity Summary of Human Rights Watch March 2003 - March 2004"
8. "Human Rights Groups are Working Against Peace"
9. ´Political Humanitarianism´ and Medical NGOs
10. [2]
11. [3]
12. [4]
13. [5]
14. NGO Monitor: Exchange of letters on NIF transparency and accountability
15. PublicEye.org: About PRA
16. Policing Civil Society Spring 2004, Political Research Associates
17. [6]
18. Monitoring The Monitor

External links

★ NGO Monitor home page

★ NGO Monitor Blog