DUTCH MP CALLS FOR SLASHING OF FUNDS FOR ANTI-ISRAEL NGOs
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=226702
Dutch MP calls to slash funding of anti-Israel NGOs
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL JERUSALEM POST
Positions of some groups ‘disgusting,’ says Johan Driesen.
BERLIN – A panel in the Dutch parliament earlier this month titled “To
discuss the activity of NGOs in Israel and Palestine” has generated a heated
debate among lawmakers and the heads of major Dutch NGOs about the
legitimacy of boycotts targeting Israel and advocacy for a “one-state
solution” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Jerusalem Post obtained a transcript of the panel from an observer at
the June 15 session in Holland’s parliament.
According to the transcript, leading Dutch humanitarian relief organizations
defended boycott, divestment and sanctions actions against Israel, prompting
Johan Driesen, from the Party for Freedom (PVV), to say, “It was the first
time I sat down to talk with the directors of the aid groups and I found
what they said not only surprising, but disgusting and I think the Dutch
government should cut funding to organizations promoting this agenda.”
René Grotenhuis, director of the aid group Catholic Organization for Relief
and Development Aid (Cordaid), said during the debate that “discussion over
boycott of Israel in Palestine is justified.”
Henk Jan Ormel, from the Dutch Christian Democratic Appeal party, said he
was “very surprised” to hear from the director of the Interchurch
Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO) that he believes that “the
two-state solution is not the basic assumption for peace.”
In response to a query asking why ICCO supports the website Electronic
Intifada, Director Marinus Verweij termed it a “respected news source used
by newspapers.”
The Dutch government funneled more than 120 million euros into ICCO in 2009,
which has doled out funds to EI.
The Jerusalem-based watchdog NGO Monitor has stated that “EI Executive
Director Ali Abunimah is a leader in delegitimization and demonization
campaigns against Israel. In his travels and speaking engagements,
facilitated by Electronic Intifada’s budget, he calls for a one-state
solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, and routinely uses false
apartheid rhetoric.”
In response to a question from Joël Stephanus Voordewind, head of the
Christian Union party, who asked why groups were financing Palestinian
groups publicly committed to promoting BDS activities against Israel,
Grotenhuis defended BDS as “legitimate” because “it is important that people
in Palestine look for ways to resist occupation, and it is a nonviolent way
to do so.”
Cordaid will continue to receive 80m. euros from Dutch taxpayer monies until
2015.
However, the organization lost 42 percent of its government funds this year,
and ICCO took a 55m. euro reduction this year.
According to a late December report in The Palestine News Network, Cordaid
faced a drop in funds because of its “Palestinian connections.”
It is unclear if the Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal pulled the plug on
considerable governmental funds for Cordaid and ICCO because of their
anti-Israel activities. Yet Rosenthal told the Post in November that if ICCO
is furnishing funds for EI “it will have a serious problem with me.”
Ronny Naftaniel,the executive director of the Haguebased Center for
Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), told the Post on Wednesday
that “The directors of these organizations spend the Dutch taxpayer’s money
contrary to the Dutch policy to strengthen the bond with Israel.”
Naftaniel added that this is an “ unacceptable result: The Netherlands
invests simultaneously in Israel and in boycotting Israel.”
He continued, “The Dutch aid organizations are seeing their budgets cut
because of this. The real victims here will not be the directors with their
huge salaries, but Palestinians and people in Africa in need of assistance.”
Professor Gerald Steinberg, the head of NGO Monitor, told the Post on
Thursday, “Until recently, most Dutch legislators and officials had little
information on how NGOs involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict utilize Dutch
funding.
“Some political advocacy NGOs abusing the rhetoric of human rights have
significant impacts, but there are no mechanisms to hold NGOs accountable
for their activities.
For example, Dutch funding for ICCO goes to groups such as Badil, Electronic
Intifada, and CWP [Coalition of Women for Peace]. They promote pro- BDS and
similar agendas which are in direct contradiction to Dutch government
policy. An independent and detailed review of all NGO funding – both direct
and indirect – is long overdue.”
Driesen asked Oxfam Novib at the panel why the charity provided funds to the
Dutch NGO “Stop de Bezeting” (Stop the Occupation). He noted that the
group’s founder, Greta Duisenberg, had participated in demonstrations
calling for Jews to be gassed, and had declared “Intifada, Intifada!” The
Dutch foreign ministry earmarked 131m. euros in 2009 for Oxfam Novib, which
sponsors projects in developing countries.
Oxfam Novib’s Director, Farah Karimi, declined to specifically address its
financial aid for “Stop de Bezeting.”
“The business we have come to discuss is of extreme importance to you and
your party, and I find it a shame to sit and speak about the behavior of
Greta Duisenberg,” said Karimi.
CIDI noted in a report last month that over the past three years the Dutch
government has allocated at least 10m.
euros to groups dedicated to promoting a boycott of Israel.
In response to CIDI’s report, Rosenthal told CIDI he will “intervene to
block funding to groups promoting the BDS campaign.”
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