In its fight for survival, Israel is not only facing Islamist extremists in the Middle East but also an army of hostile Western NGOs, many funded by European governments. Following the standard pattern for the past 25 years, the network of influential political advocacy NGOs claiming to promote human rights and other moral agendas has launched a propaganda campaign against Israel’s defensive strikes to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons. Their unified message condemns Israel and calls on governments and the UN to pressure and sanction Israel. With a few notable exceptions, tens of such organizations have produced a chorus of allegations based on invented evidence while massively distorting the language of morality and international law.
In contrast to the relatively supportive statements from many European leaders who highlight Israel’s right to self-defense and the danger of a nuclear Iran (alongside the usual slogans of restraint and peaceful solutions), the NGOs they fund under the labels of civil society and human rights continue with their propaganda campaigns.
For example, on June 13, in the first hours following the initial Israeli strike, Ellie Geranmayeh, deputy director of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), posted a blatant propaganda statement asserting:
Israel initiated and designed this attack to up the ante against Tehran—and drag the wider region into confrontation. Such aggression is a threat to regional peace and security, derailing hopes of a diplomatic pathway to resolve Iran’s nuclear crisis and risking a deep regional war, both of which directly threaten core European interests.
Echoing the Iranian regime’s talking points, Geranmayeh alleged that the Israeli action “scuttled U.S. president Donald Trump’s chance of striking a deal to contain Iran’s nuclear programme,” as if the regime had any intention of giving up its illegal nuclear facilities and material through diplomacy.
As this statement and accompanying posts on Twitter/X demonstrate, ECFR is a highly politicized advocacy group active in anti-Israel campaigns. It is funded by governments (i.e., taxpayers) in many European states (Belgium, Denmark, EU, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK) making it an advocacy subcontractor and closer to a GONGO—government-funded NGO. This is an absurd case in which states fund organizations to lobby the officials to adopt policies that are in opposition to the interests of the same states—specifically ECFR’s call on Europe to “condemn Israeli aggression.”
A number of state-funded church ‘peace’ and propaganda groups are also active. In the Netherlands, PAX (a partnership between Interchurch Peace Council IKV and Pax Christi), is funded in large part through government agencies. On June 13, PAX posted an attempt to conflate the Iran issue with Gaza, while supporting the Iran dictatorship and erasing its terror proxies, deadly missile arsenal, and advanced nuclear weapons program:
Israel attacked Iran tonight. … This is happening as the genocide in Gaza continues unabated. … The Israeli attack fits a pattern. After … limitless violence in Gaza and regular attacks on Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, the attack is now being opened on Iran. … It is important that the international community, including the Netherlands, condemns Israel.
This is one example out of many in which a so-called“peace NGO that receives over €13 million annually (as of 2023) from taxpayers—Dutch in this case—promotes the opposite of peace and morality.
In Ireland, Sadaka Palestine is predictably active. On June 14, the NGO condemned EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for voicing support for Israel, declaring “Actually it’s Iran that has the right to defend itself as it was attacked. Your defence of Israel is criminal and a betrayal of your responsibilities.” In another post, the Ireland-based group wrote: “The French, Germans, Brits and Canadians always emphasize ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’ even when it is in grave breach of international law and isn’t ‘defending itself’ but starting wars to deflect attention from its genocide in Gaza.”
European governments also fund and empower a group of Israeli NGOs that add to the campaign. Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem made similar posts conflating Iran’s missiles and nuclear program with the Gaza conflict (and conspicuously erasing the October 7 atrocities), and condemning what they call “Israel’s extremist government [that] has chosen to start a war” and “another bloody cycle of violence with zero diplomatic efforts.”
In the U.S., where many of the anti-Israel NGOs are not transparent on their funding sources or receive support from tax-exempt sources, the same messaging was promoted from the first hours of the war. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) posted a statement condemning “Israel’s unilateral military attack on Iranian sovereign territory…. While the U.S. did not take part in the attack, these actions would not be possible without the billions of dollars in weapons and support provided by the U.S. The U.S. and other international powers must condemn this act of aggression.” In a social media post, AFSC wrote “The U.S. and the international community must make every effort to stop Israel’s violence and expansionist agenda in the region.” The organization’s funders, such as the Ford Foundation—and its IRS-registered pass-throughs that hide the actual source, particularly Tides Foundation—enable this pro-Iran regime propaganda.
Similarly, the Foundation for Middle East Peace—a well-known hub for anti-Israel campaigns, condemned the Israeli policy of warning residents of Tehran that military facilities were about to be hit by airstrikes. “Israel’s approach, normalized in Gaza, is to order an area’s ‘evacuation’, then deem every person staying in the area either a legit military target or a ‘human shield’ for a legit military targets, thereby claiming the right to attack/massacre them at will.” FMEP’s propaganda based on pseudo-legal spin is also funded by The Rockefeller Brothers Fund and anonymously through Tides.
There are many other examples of this orchestrated and heavily financed NGO-led campaign of condemnations (see Silence on Iran, Sanctions for Israel – NGO Responses to the War), based on totally distorted principles of human rights and international law. This is a direct continuation of the NGO attacks on Israel immediately following the October 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities, and again illustrates the role these organizations play in exploiting the moral foundations of human rights in supporting terrorists and heinous regimes such as in Iran.
Who Is Funding Iran’s Western Cheerleaders?
Joseph Prezioso / AFP
Gerd Altmann / Pixabay
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In its fight for survival, Israel is not only facing Islamist extremists in the Middle East but also an army of hostile Western NGOs, many funded by European governments. Following the standard pattern for the past 25 years, the network of influential political advocacy NGOs claiming to promote human rights and other moral agendas has launched a propaganda campaign against Israel’s defensive strikes to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons. Their unified message condemns Israel and calls on governments and the UN to pressure and sanction Israel. With a few notable exceptions, tens of such organizations have produced a chorus of allegations based on invented evidence while massively distorting the language of morality and international law.
In contrast to the relatively supportive statements from many European leaders who highlight Israel’s right to self-defense and the danger of a nuclear Iran (alongside the usual slogans of restraint and peaceful solutions), the NGOs they fund under the labels of civil society and human rights continue with their propaganda campaigns.
For example, on June 13, in the first hours following the initial Israeli strike, Ellie Geranmayeh, deputy director of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), posted a blatant propaganda statement asserting:
Echoing the Iranian regime’s talking points, Geranmayeh alleged that the Israeli action “scuttled U.S. president Donald Trump’s chance of striking a deal to contain Iran’s nuclear programme,” as if the regime had any intention of giving up its illegal nuclear facilities and material through diplomacy.
As this statement and accompanying posts on Twitter/X demonstrate, ECFR is a highly politicized advocacy group active in anti-Israel campaigns. It is funded by governments (i.e., taxpayers) in many European states (Belgium, Denmark, EU, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK) making it an advocacy subcontractor and closer to a GONGO—government-funded NGO. This is an absurd case in which states fund organizations to lobby the officials to adopt policies that are in opposition to the interests of the same states—specifically ECFR’s call on Europe to “condemn Israeli aggression.”
A number of state-funded church ‘peace’ and propaganda groups are also active. In the Netherlands, PAX (a partnership between Interchurch Peace Council IKV and Pax Christi), is funded in large part through government agencies. On June 13, PAX posted an attempt to conflate the Iran issue with Gaza, while supporting the Iran dictatorship and erasing its terror proxies, deadly missile arsenal, and advanced nuclear weapons program:
This is one example out of many in which a so-called“peace NGO that receives over €13 million annually (as of 2023) from taxpayers—Dutch in this case—promotes the opposite of peace and morality.
In Ireland, Sadaka Palestine is predictably active. On June 14, the NGO condemned EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for voicing support for Israel, declaring “Actually it’s Iran that has the right to defend itself as it was attacked. Your defence of Israel is criminal and a betrayal of your responsibilities.” In another post, the Ireland-based group wrote: “The French, Germans, Brits and Canadians always emphasize ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’ even when it is in grave breach of international law and isn’t ‘defending itself’ but starting wars to deflect attention from its genocide in Gaza.”
European governments also fund and empower a group of Israeli NGOs that add to the campaign. Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem made similar posts conflating Iran’s missiles and nuclear program with the Gaza conflict (and conspicuously erasing the October 7 atrocities), and condemning what they call “Israel’s extremist government [that] has chosen to start a war” and “another bloody cycle of violence with zero diplomatic efforts.”
In the U.S., where many of the anti-Israel NGOs are not transparent on their funding sources or receive support from tax-exempt sources, the same messaging was promoted from the first hours of the war. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) posted a statement condemning “Israel’s unilateral military attack on Iranian sovereign territory…. While the U.S. did not take part in the attack, these actions would not be possible without the billions of dollars in weapons and support provided by the U.S. The U.S. and other international powers must condemn this act of aggression.” In a social media post, AFSC wrote “The U.S. and the international community must make every effort to stop Israel’s violence and expansionist agenda in the region.” The organization’s funders, such as the Ford Foundation—and its IRS-registered pass-throughs that hide the actual source, particularly Tides Foundation—enable this pro-Iran regime propaganda.
Similarly, the Foundation for Middle East Peace—a well-known hub for anti-Israel campaigns, condemned the Israeli policy of warning residents of Tehran that military facilities were about to be hit by airstrikes. “Israel’s approach, normalized in Gaza, is to order an area’s ‘evacuation’, then deem every person staying in the area either a legit military target or a ‘human shield’ for a legit military targets, thereby claiming the right to attack/massacre them at will.” FMEP’s propaganda based on pseudo-legal spin is also funded by The Rockefeller Brothers Fund and anonymously through Tides.
There are many other examples of this orchestrated and heavily financed NGO-led campaign of condemnations (see Silence on Iran, Sanctions for Israel – NGO Responses to the War), based on totally distorted principles of human rights and international law. This is a direct continuation of the NGO attacks on Israel immediately following the October 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities, and again illustrates the role these organizations play in exploiting the moral foundations of human rights in supporting terrorists and heinous regimes such as in Iran.
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