While Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas attack Israel on the battlefield, a vast and often hidden network of NGOs seeks to demonize and delegitimize Israel in the international arena. How does this network operate – and how does it fuel sanctions campaigns, violent protests, ICC cases, and high-profile media libels, including Nicholas Kristof’s recent op-ed in The New York Times?
In this episode of Misgav Mideast Horizons, host Asher Fredman is joined by Olga Deutsch, incoming President of NGO Monitor and Senior Fellow at the Misgav Institute, for a revealing conversation on the vast network of NGOs, activists, media outlets, governments, and international institutions shaping the global narrative against Israel.
Deutsch explains how anti-Israel NGOs use the language of human rights and humanitarianism to promote campaigns of delegitimization – from Gaza flotillas and boycott efforts to ICC and ICJ cases, international sanctions campaigns, and media narratives accusing Israel of apartheid, genocide, starvation, and other crimes. She argues that many of these campaigns are not isolated PR efforts, but part of a well-funded political warfare strategy aimed at undermining Israel’s basic legitimacy and national security.
The conversation also addresses the controversy surrounding Nicholas Kristof’s recent New York Times op-ed, documented links between various NGOs and designated terrorist organizations, the “halo effect” that shields such organizations from scrutiny, and the flow of taxpayer money from Western governments to the NGO industrial complex.
Deutsch also explains what success looks like in this battle: exposing NGO funding, pushing governments to improve vetting and accountability, cutting off support to extremist or terror-linked groups, and changing the way policymakers, journalists, and the public understand the NGO industry.
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