Global funders pledge solidarity with Palestinian civil society following Israeli ban on human rights groups

Open Letter 

Mondoweiss  /  November 16, 2021 

More than 100 global foundations and donors denounce the Israeli designation of six Palestinian human rights organizations as “terrorist organizations,” and urge world governments to protect Palestinian civil society.

Editor’s Note: The following open letter was issued on November 16, 2021 by Funders for Palestine, a group of more than 100 global foundations and donors, most of them U.S.-based. To add your name as a signatory see hereMondoweiss occasionally publishes press releases and statements from organizations in an effort to draw attention to overlooked issues.

Open Letter to Defend Democracy and the Rights of Palestinian Civil Society

November 16, 2021  

On October 19, 2021, six prominent Palestinian organizations were labeled as so-called “terrorist organizations” by the Israeli Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz. This designation criminalizes the work of these organizations and allows the closure of their offices, seizing of files and equipment, and arresting of staff members, as well as aiming to criminalize those who fund or support them in other ways.

Foundations and international donors play an essential role in supporting communities on the forefront of promoting social justice across the globe, particularly in areas where the wellbeing and human rights of marginalized peoples are most threatened. In Palestine, civil society organizations fill essential roles in providing services, advocating for human rights, protecting land and water resources, and speaking out against the ongoing occupation and violations of international laws. The six groups criminalized by Gantz’s edict include:

  • Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association was founded 1991 to provide legal support for prisoners, collect data on arrests and administration detentions, and to work to end torture and violations of prisoner rights. Recently, it has been highlighting a prisoner hunger strike, which in the case of one prisoner has lasted for more than 90 days.
  • Al Haq, the oldest Palestinian human rights organization, was established in 1979 “to protect and promote human rights and the rule of law in the occupied Palestinian territory.” It has played a primary role in bringing Israeli violations of international law before the International Criminal Court, which opened its formal investigation into Israel’s alleged war crimes in March 2021.
  • Bisan Center for Research and Development was founded in 1989 “to contribute to building an effective democratic society.” Through its programs, the Bisan Center advocates for civil rights, human rights, and socio-economic rights.
  • Defense for Children International – Palestine is the national section of the Geneva-based international child-rights movement. Since 1991 it has “investigated, documented, and exposed grave human rights violations against children” and provided them with legal services. Its research informed the drafting of Rep. Betty McCollum’s ‘Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living under Israeli Military Occupation Act’ (H.R. 2590).
  • Union of Agricultural Work Committees, the largest agricultural institution in Palestine, was established in 1986 to improve the situation of Palestinian farmers and fisherfolk. It has played a critical role in confronting Israeli settlement expansion and displacement of farmers from their land, a process that has accelerated in the past few years. UAWC received the prestigious Equator Prize in 2014 by the United Nations Development Agency for its outstanding work on sustainable agriculture and preservation of local seeds through its seed bank.
  • Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees was established in 1980 as a feminist organization to empower women to play an enhanced role in social, political and economic life, and advance the struggle for dignity and liberation.

The targeted assault against six of the leading civil society organizations in Palestine is a blatant attempt to silence and criminalize dissent against the human rights violations of the Israeli government. According the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory, “These designations are the latest development in a long stigmatizing campaign against these and other organizations, damaging their ability to deliver on their crucial work.” A group of UN human rights experts added that, “This designation is a frontal attack on the Palestinian human rights movement, and on human rights everywhere.”

We defend the rights of Palestinian civil society organizations to carry out their crucial work. We uphold the key values of the freedom of speech, the power of solidarity, and the right of all people to justice and dignity.

The threat to criminalize those who speak in defense of these organizations (including funding them) is a direct attack on the freedom and purpose of global funders to stand in solidarity with Palestine. As funders invested in human rights, we refuse to be silenced or intimidated.

The additional threat to criminalize those who speak in defense of these organizations (including funding them) is a direct attack on the freedom and purpose of global funders to stand in solidarity with Palestine. As funders invested in human rights, we refuse to be silenced or intimidated. We conduct thorough due diligence processes in our grant-making, including accompaniment of projects. Our funding decisions belong to our boards and our conscience, not the Israeli Defense Department.

Furthermore, prior allegations against these and other Palestinian civil society organizations have been refuted repeatedly by both European and US due diligence investigations. In response to this latest move by the Israeli government, the European Union asserted that: “Past allegations of the misuse of EU funds in relation to certain of our Palestinian CSO partners have not been substantiated…The EU will continue to stand by international law and support civil society organizations that have a role to play in promoting international law, human rights, and democratic values.”

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, who work closely with many of the groups, said in a joint statement:

This appalling and unjust decision is an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement. For decades, Israeli authorities have systematically sought to muzzle human rights monitoring and punish those who criticize its repressive rule over Palestinians. While staff members of our organizations have faced deportation and travel bans, Palestinian human rights defenders have always borne the brunt of the repression. This decision is an alarming escalation that threatens to shut down the work of Palestine’s most prominent civil society organizations. The decades-long failure of the international community to challenge grave Israeli human rights abuses and impose meaningful consequences for them has emboldened Israeli authorities to act in this brazen manner.

How the international community responds will be a true test of its resolve to protect human rights defenders. We are proud to work with our Palestinian partners and have been doing so for decades. They represent the best of global civil society. We stand with them in challenging this outrageous decision.

In that spirit, we stand in solidarity with civil society organizations in Palestine and ask that:

  1. The governments of the United States, the European Union, and other countries denounce all smear campaigns against Palestinian civil society organizations, press the Israeli government to immediately and fully rescind Gantz’s designation of so-called “terrorist organization” against these 6 Palestinian human rights organizations;
  2. The United States, the European Union, and other governments hold the the Israeli government accountable to adhere to international law and human rights standards; and
  3. US, European, and other government officials ensure that any philanthropic funds designated toward civil society organizations in Palestine reach them without interference by the Israeli government or financial institutions.

As global funders of human rights and democracy, this attempt to ‘chill’ our funding and solidarity will not work. We stand with Palestinian civil society organizations and human rights defenders. We assert our right to free speech and to provide financial support to organizations advancing human rights, dignity and wellbeing for the Palestinian people.

Sincerely,

Philanthropic Organizations

  1. Access Strategies Fund
  2. Agroecology Fund
  3. Alison Gottlieb Donor Advised Fund  
  4. American Friends Service Committee
  5. ARC of Justice
  6. Asfari Foundation
  7. Bizilur
  8. Bonus Fund
  9. CarEth Foundation
  10. Caribou Fund
  11. Chinook Fund
  12. Chorus Foundation
  13. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  14. Claire Barker Charitable Fund
  15. Coco Canary Consulting, LLC  
  16. Collective Future Fund
  17. Colombe Peace Foundation
  18. Common Counsel Foundation
  19. CS Fund 
  20. Cultures of Resistance
  21. Donkeysaddle Projects
  22. EDGE Funders Alliance
  23. Eleanor Friedman Fund
  24. Farbman Family Foundation
  25. Fomite Press
  26. Fondation Danielle Mitterrand
  27. Fondo Semillas
  28. Foundation for Middle East Peace
  29. Front Line Defenders 
  30. Fund for Democratic Communities
  31. Fund for Global Human Rights 
  32. Fundación Mundubat
  33. GaiaWise
  34. Global Focus
  35. Global Fund for Women
  36. Grassroots International
  37. Guerrilla Foundation
  38. Human Rights Funders Network
  39. JG3: Jacobs Grounded Guided Giving
  40. JVP Health Advisory Council  
  41. Karibu Foundation
  42. Kolibri Foundation
  43. Lannan Foundation  
  44. MADRE
  45. Medico International E.V.
  46. Middle East Children’s Alliance
  47. North Star Fund
  48. Palitan Consulting
  49. Peace Development Fund
  50. PRBB Foundation
  51. Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds
  52. Radical Imagination Family Foundation
  53. Ralph E. Ogden Foundation
  54. Rawa Fund
  55. RESIST, Inc.
  56. Resource Generation
  57. Right Livelihood
  58. Rumpelstiltskin
  59. Sagner Family Foundation
  60. Samuel Rubin Foundation
  61. Seymour and Sylvia Rothchild Family Foundation
  62. Social Justice Fund NW
  63. Solidaire Action Fund
  64. Sparkplug Foundation
  65. John Chrysostom Justice and Peace Committee
  66. Terra Fund
  67. Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
  68. Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights
  69. WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
  70. Women’s Fund in Georgia 

Individual Philanthropists/Donors

  1. Adam Ratner
  2. Alan Meyers, MD
  3. Alice Rothchild, MD
  4. Alison Gottlieb
  5. Angelica S. Harter
  6. Amy Alpert
  7. Becky Silverstein
  8. Bonnie Shepard
  9. Bram Wispelwey, MD
  10. Charles A. Walsh
  11. Claire Isaacson Barker
  12. Clare Woodcraft
  13. Cynda Collins Arsenault
  14. Cynthia Jama Baxter
  15. Dan Connell
  16. Dan Klein
  17. Danni Marilyn West
  18. Davian Gagne, MSW
  19. David Holmstrom
  20. David S. Klein
  21. Debbie Hird
  22. Dorothy Burlage
  23. Nancy Holmstrom, Professor Emerita, Rutgers Univerity Newark
  24. Elena Bird
  25. Elsa Auerbach
  26. Emma Klein
  27. Eric Sargent
  28. Erik Ortiz
  29. Gordon Fellman
  30. Hayat Imam
  31. Hendrix Berry
  32. Jara Lee
  33. James Marc Leas
  34. Jessie Bluedorn
  35. Jo Miller-Gamble
  36. Kacy Lane
  37. Katherine Yih
  38. Leslie Zebrowitz
  39. Marjorie Suisman
  40. Maxine Fookson
  41. Michael Gast
  42. Miriam Cohen
  43. Molly O’Connor
  44. Nancy Gold
  45. Naomi Sobel
  46. Nikhil Aziz
  47. Nora Burridge
  48. Pam Rogers
  49. Rachel Rubin, MD, MPH
  50. Ravi Khanna
  51. Rebeca Sandoval
  52. Sara Sargent
  53. Sasha Klein 
  54. Scott Handleman 
  55. Sean Poynter 
  56. Sima Kahn, MD 
  57. Simon J. Klein 
  58. Trude Bennett, DrPH 
  59. Victor Wallis