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A Palestinian boy sits on a chair with a national flag as Israeli authorities demolish a school site in the village of Yatta, south of the West Bank city of Hebron on July 11, 2018. (Photo: Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images)
More than 100 global philanthropic foundations and individual donors on Tuesday joined a growing chorus of human rights advocates who have condemned Israel for its recent decision to label six prominent Palestinian civil society groups as “terrorist organizations,” and stressed that the apartheid regime’s move will not affect their funding decisions.
“The cynical weaponization of anti-terrorism laws poses an existential threat both for Palestinian human rights defenders and those defending human rights globally.”
The punitive classification, issued last month by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, targeted a half-dozen groups--Addameer, AlHaq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International - Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees--that serve millions of Palestinians living in the occupied territories.
“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 aim[s] to criminalize those who fund or support them in other ways,” a coalition of dozens of philanthropic foundations and individual donors, most of them based in the United States, wrote in an open letter.
“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 well-being and human rights of marginalized peoples are most threatened,” the coalition added. “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.”
Last week, researchers revealed that before their groups were outlawed by the Israeli government, the cellphones of six Palestinian activists were infected with Pegasus spyware, an invasive technology sold by private Israeli company NSO Group and used to target journalists and dissidents worldwide.
“The exposure of illegal spying on peaceful Palestinian human rights defenders, coming on top of baseless terrorism claims against internationally respected human rights organizations, underscores how important it is that the international community continue supporting their legitimate work,” Andrew Anderson, executive director of Front Line Defenders, said in a statement.
“Surely this episode will serve as a stark warning against any deployment of the term ‘terrorist’ against human rights defenders anywhere in the world,” he added, “and renew efforts to rein in the use of spyware against human rights defenders, journalists, and other civil society activists.”
Related Content
In its open letter, the coalition wrote that “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,” including its plan to construct more than 3,100 new illegal settlements on Palestinian lands, announced just days after the six groups were banned.
“The cynical weaponization of anti-terrorism laws,” said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, “poses an existential threat both for Palestinian human rights defenders and those defending human rights globally.”
“Our funding decisions belong to our boards and our conscience, not the Israeli Defense Department.”
“The breadth of signers of this letter underscores funders’ shared recognition of the urgency of challenging this dangerous tactic, and of the moral obligation to defend partners on the ground who, in essence, have been singled out for attack because they have done their work defending human and civil rights too well,” she added.
Additional signatories include the American Friends Service Committee, Right Livelihood, and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Alongside dozens of other groups and individuals, they wrote: “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 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,” noted the coalition. “As funders invested in human rights, we refuse to be silenced or intimidated. We conduct thorough due diligence processes in our grant-making, including [the] accompaniment of projects. Our funding decisions belong to our boards and our conscience, not the Israeli Defense Department.”
The global foundations and individual donors stressed that “we stand in solidarity with civil society organizations” that are under attack in Palestine.
Gantz’s decision to slap six prominent human rights groups with a “terrorist” designation, said Kay Guinane, founder and senior adviser at the Charity & Security Network, “mark[s] a crescendo, not an opening salvo, in the Israeli government’s long-standing campaign to suppress Palestinian civil society.”
“For over a decade, Israel has been working with a network of legal outfits and disinformation groups to distract, defund, and delegitimize organizations in Palestine and internationally that work to support Palestinian needs and end Israel’s human rights abuses,” Guinane noted. “Now, in addition to supporting disinformation and spurious lawsuits, the Israeli government is simply outlawing those who stand up to its abuses.”
Latanya Mapp Frett, Global Fund for Women president and CEO, emphasized that “the philanthropic community must not be silent. Palestinian women, girls, and gender-diverse and nonconforming people face multiple sources of violence--from the Israeli military occupation to a society dominated by patriarchy.”
The open letter implores the U.S. government, European Union, and other governments around the world to protect Palestinian civil society by taking the following actions:
“As global funders of human rights and democracy, this attempt to ‘chill’ our funding and solidarity will not work,” the coalition wrote. “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 well-being for the Palestinian people.”
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More than 100 global philanthropic foundations and individual donors on Tuesday joined a growing chorus of human rights advocates who have condemned Israel for its recent decision to label six prominent Palestinian civil society groups as “terrorist organizations,” and stressed that the apartheid regime’s move will not affect their funding decisions.
“The cynical weaponization of anti-terrorism laws poses an existential threat both for Palestinian human rights defenders and those defending human rights globally.”
The punitive classification, issued last month by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, targeted a half-dozen groups--Addameer, AlHaq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International - Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees--that serve millions of Palestinians living in the occupied territories.
“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 aim[s] to criminalize those who fund or support them in other ways,” a coalition of dozens of philanthropic foundations and individual donors, most of them based in the United States, wrote in an open letter.
“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 well-being and human rights of marginalized peoples are most threatened,” the coalition added. “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.”
Last week, researchers revealed that before their groups were outlawed by the Israeli government, the cellphones of six Palestinian activists were infected with Pegasus spyware, an invasive technology sold by private Israeli company NSO Group and used to target journalists and dissidents worldwide.
“The exposure of illegal spying on peaceful Palestinian human rights defenders, coming on top of baseless terrorism claims against internationally respected human rights organizations, underscores how important it is that the international community continue supporting their legitimate work,” Andrew Anderson, executive director of Front Line Defenders, said in a statement.
“Surely this episode will serve as a stark warning against any deployment of the term ‘terrorist’ against human rights defenders anywhere in the world,” he added, “and renew efforts to rein in the use of spyware against human rights defenders, journalists, and other civil society activists.”
Related Content
In its open letter, the coalition wrote that “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,” including its plan to construct more than 3,100 new illegal settlements on Palestinian lands, announced just days after the six groups were banned.
“The cynical weaponization of anti-terrorism laws,” said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, “poses an existential threat both for Palestinian human rights defenders and those defending human rights globally.”
“Our funding decisions belong to our boards and our conscience, not the Israeli Defense Department.”
“The breadth of signers of this letter underscores funders’ shared recognition of the urgency of challenging this dangerous tactic, and of the moral obligation to defend partners on the ground who, in essence, have been singled out for attack because they have done their work defending human and civil rights too well,” she added.
Additional signatories include the American Friends Service Committee, Right Livelihood, and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Alongside dozens of other groups and individuals, they wrote: “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 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,” noted the coalition. “As funders invested in human rights, we refuse to be silenced or intimidated. We conduct thorough due diligence processes in our grant-making, including [the] accompaniment of projects. Our funding decisions belong to our boards and our conscience, not the Israeli Defense Department.”
The global foundations and individual donors stressed that “we stand in solidarity with civil society organizations” that are under attack in Palestine.
Gantz’s decision to slap six prominent human rights groups with a “terrorist” designation, said Kay Guinane, founder and senior adviser at the Charity & Security Network, “mark[s] a crescendo, not an opening salvo, in the Israeli government’s long-standing campaign to suppress Palestinian civil society.”
“For over a decade, Israel has been working with a network of legal outfits and disinformation groups to distract, defund, and delegitimize organizations in Palestine and internationally that work to support Palestinian needs and end Israel’s human rights abuses,” Guinane noted. “Now, in addition to supporting disinformation and spurious lawsuits, the Israeli government is simply outlawing those who stand up to its abuses.”
Latanya Mapp Frett, Global Fund for Women president and CEO, emphasized that “the philanthropic community must not be silent. Palestinian women, girls, and gender-diverse and nonconforming people face multiple sources of violence--from the Israeli military occupation to a society dominated by patriarchy.”
The open letter implores the U.S. government, European Union, and other governments around the world to protect Palestinian civil society by taking the following actions:
“As global funders of human rights and democracy, this attempt to ‘chill’ our funding and solidarity will not work,” the coalition wrote. “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 well-being for the Palestinian people.”
More than 100 global philanthropic foundations and individual donors on Tuesday joined a growing chorus of human rights advocates who have condemned Israel for its recent decision to label six prominent Palestinian civil society groups as “terrorist organizations,” and stressed that the apartheid regime’s move will not affect their funding decisions.
“The cynical weaponization of anti-terrorism laws poses an existential threat both for Palestinian human rights defenders and those defending human rights globally.”
The punitive classification, issued last month by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, targeted a half-dozen groups--Addameer, AlHaq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International - Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees--that serve millions of Palestinians living in the occupied territories.
“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 aim[s] to criminalize those who fund or support them in other ways,” a coalition of dozens of philanthropic foundations and individual donors, most of them based in the United States, wrote in an open letter.
“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 well-being and human rights of marginalized peoples are most threatened,” the coalition added. “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.”
Last week, researchers revealed that before their groups were outlawed by the Israeli government, the cellphones of six Palestinian activists were infected with Pegasus spyware, an invasive technology sold by private Israeli company NSO Group and used to target journalists and dissidents worldwide.
“The exposure of illegal spying on peaceful Palestinian human rights defenders, coming on top of baseless terrorism claims against internationally respected human rights organizations, underscores how important it is that the international community continue supporting their legitimate work,” Andrew Anderson, executive director of Front Line Defenders, said in a statement.
“Surely this episode will serve as a stark warning against any deployment of the term ‘terrorist’ against human rights defenders anywhere in the world,” he added, “and renew efforts to rein in the use of spyware against human rights defenders, journalists, and other civil society activists.”
Related Content
In its open letter, the coalition wrote that “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,” including its plan to construct more than 3,100 new illegal settlements on Palestinian lands, announced just days after the six groups were banned.
“The cynical weaponization of anti-terrorism laws,” said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, “poses an existential threat both for Palestinian human rights defenders and those defending human rights globally.”
“Our funding decisions belong to our boards and our conscience, not the Israeli Defense Department.”
“The breadth of signers of this letter underscores funders’ shared recognition of the urgency of challenging this dangerous tactic, and of the moral obligation to defend partners on the ground who, in essence, have been singled out for attack because they have done their work defending human and civil rights too well,” she added.
Additional signatories include the American Friends Service Committee, Right Livelihood, and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Alongside dozens of other groups and individuals, they wrote: “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 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,” noted the coalition. “As funders invested in human rights, we refuse to be silenced or intimidated. We conduct thorough due diligence processes in our grant-making, including [the] accompaniment of projects. Our funding decisions belong to our boards and our conscience, not the Israeli Defense Department.”
The global foundations and individual donors stressed that “we stand in solidarity with civil society organizations” that are under attack in Palestine.
Gantz’s decision to slap six prominent human rights groups with a “terrorist” designation, said Kay Guinane, founder and senior adviser at the Charity & Security Network, “mark[s] a crescendo, not an opening salvo, in the Israeli government’s long-standing campaign to suppress Palestinian civil society.”
“For over a decade, Israel has been working with a network of legal outfits and disinformation groups to distract, defund, and delegitimize organizations in Palestine and internationally that work to support Palestinian needs and end Israel’s human rights abuses,” Guinane noted. “Now, in addition to supporting disinformation and spurious lawsuits, the Israeli government is simply outlawing those who stand up to its abuses.”
Latanya Mapp Frett, Global Fund for Women president and CEO, emphasized that “the philanthropic community must not be silent. Palestinian women, girls, and gender-diverse and nonconforming people face multiple sources of violence--from the Israeli military occupation to a society dominated by patriarchy.”
The open letter implores the U.S. government, European Union, and other governments around the world to protect Palestinian civil society by taking the following actions:
“As global funders of human rights and democracy, this attempt to ‘chill’ our funding and solidarity will not work,” the coalition wrote. “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 well-being for the Palestinian people.”
Against a backdrop of Israel's genocidal obliteration of Gaza City and a worsening man-made famine throughout the embattled Palestinian exclave, the United States on Thursday cast its sixth United Nations Security Council veto of a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.
At its 10,000th meeting, the UN Security Council voted 14-1 with no abstentions in favor of a resolution proposed by the 10 nonpermanent UNSC members demanding "an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire" in Gaza, the "release of all hostages" held by Hamas, and for Israel to "immediately and unconditionally lift all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid" into the besieged strip.
Morgan Ortagus, President Donald Trump's deputy special envoy to the Middle East, vetoed the proposal, saying that the move "will come as no surprise," as the US has killed five previous UNSC Gaza ceasefire resolutions under both the Biden and Trump administrations, most recently in June.
Ortagus said the resolution failed to condemn Hamas or affirm Israel's right to self-defense and “wrongly legitimizes the false narratives benefiting Hamas, which have sadly found currency in this council."
The US has unconditionally provided Israel with billions of dollars worth of armed aid and diplomatic cover since October 2023 as the key Mideast ally wages a war increasingly viewed as genocidal, including by a commission of independent UN experts this week.
Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said the torpedoed resolution represented the "bare minimum" that must be accomplished, adding that “it is deeply regrettable and painful that it has been blocked.”
“Babies dying of starvation, snipers shooting people in the head, civilians killed en masse, families displaced again and again... humanitarians and journalists targeted... while Israeli officials are openly mocking all of this," Mansour added.
Following the UNSC's latest failure to pass a ceasefire resolution, Algerian Ambassador to the UN Amar Bendjama asked Gazans to "forgive" the body for not only its inability to approve such measures, but also for failing to stop the Gaza famine, in which at least hundreds of Palestinians have died and hundreds of thousands more are starving. Every UNSC members but the US concurred last month that the Gaza famine is a man-made catastrophe.
“Israel kills every day and nothing happens," Bendjama said. "Israel starves a people and nothing happens. Israel bombs hospitals, schools, shelters, and nothing happens. Israel attacks a mediator and steps on diplomacy, and nothing happens. And with every act, every act unpunished, humanity itself is diminished.”
Benjama also asked Gazans to "forgive us" for failing to protect children in the strip, more than 20,000 of whom have been killed by Israeli bombs, bullets, and blockade over the past 713 days. He also noted that upward of 12,000 women, 4,000 elderly, 1,400 doctors and nurses, 500 aid workers, and 250 journalists “have been killed by Israel."
Condemning Thursday's veto, Hamas accused the US of “blatant complicity in the crime of genocide," which Israel is accused of committing in an ongoing International Court of Justice (ICJ) case filed in December 2023 by South Africa and backed by around two dozen nations.
Hamas—which led the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and is believed to be holding 20 hostages left alive out of 251 people kidnapped that day—implored the countries that sponsored the ceasefire resolution to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who along with former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, to accept an agreement to halt hostilities.
Overall, at least 65,141 Palestinians have been killed and over 165,900 others wounded by Israeli forces since October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry—whose figures have not only been confirmed by former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, but deemed a significant undercount by independent researchers. Thousands more Gazans are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the ruins of the flattened strip.
UK Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward stessed after Thursday's failed UNSC resolution that "we need a ceasefire more than ever."
“Israel’s reckless expansion of its military operation takes us further away from a deal which could bring the hostages home and end the suffering in Gaza," Woodward said.
Thursday's developments came as Israeli forces continued to lay waste to Gaza City as they push deeper into the city as part of Operation Gideon's Chariots 2, a campaign to conquer, occupy, and ethnically cleanse around 1 million Palestinians from the strip's capital. Israeli leaders have said they are carrying out the operation in accordance with Trump's proposal to empty Gaza of Palestinians and transform it into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
In what some observers said was a bid to prevent the world from witnessing fresh Israeli war crimes in Gaza City, internet and phone lines were cut off in the strip Thursday, although officials said service has since been mostly restored.
Gaza officials said Thursday that at least 50 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces since dawn, including 40 in Gaza City, which Al Jazeera reporter Tareq Abu Azzoum said is being pummeled into "a lifeless wasteland."
Azzoum reported that tens of thousands of Palestinians "are moving to the south on foot or in carts, looking for any place that is relatively safe—but with no guarantee of safety—or at least for shelter."
Israel has repeatedly bombed areas it advised Palestinians were "safe zones," including a September 2 airstrike that massacred 11 people—nine of them children—queued up to collect water in al-Mawasi.
"Most families who have arrived in the south have not found space," Azzoum added. "That’s why we’ve seen people setting up makeshift tents close to the water while others are left stranded in the street, living under the open sky."
President Donald Trump doubled down on his threats to silence his critics Thursday, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that outlets that give him "bad press" may have their broadcast licenses taken away.
The threat came just one day after his Federal Communications Commission (FCC) director, Brendan Carr, successfully pressured ABC into pulling Jimmy Kimmel's show from the air by threatening the broadcast licenses of its affiliates over a comment the comedian made about the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
"I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me," Trump told the press gaggle. "I get 97% negative, and yet I won it easily. I won all seven swing states, popular vote, I won everything. And they're 97% against, they give me wholly bad publicity... I mean, they're getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away."
"When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump, that’s all they do," the president continued. "If you go back, I guess they haven’t had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said, but when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”
He said that the decision would be left up to Carr, who has threatened to take away licenses from networks that air what he called "distorted" content.
It is unclear where Trump's statistic that networks have been "97% against" him originates, nor the claim that mainstream news networks "haven't had a conservative on in years."
But even if it were true, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez says "the FCC doesn't have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to revoke a license because of content."
In comments made to Axios Thursday, Gomez—the lone Democrat on the five-member panel—said that the Trump administration was "weaponizing its licensing authority in order to bring broadcasters to heel," as part of a "campaign of censorship and control."
National news networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC do not have broadcasting licenses approved by the FCC, nor do cable networks like CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News. The licenses threatened by Carr are for local affiliates, which—despite having the branding of the big networks—are owned by less well-known companies like Nexstar Media Group and the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, both of which pushed in favor of ABC's decision to ax Kimmel.
Gomez said that with Trump's intimidation of broadcasters, the "threat is the point."
"It is a very hard standard to meet to revoke a license, which is why it's so rarely done, but broadcast license to the broadcasters are extremely valuable," she said. "And so they don't want to be dragged before the FCC either in order to answer to an enforcement complaint of some kind or under the threat of possible revocation."
Democratic lawmakers are vowing to investigate the Trump administration's pressure campaign that may have led to ABC deciding to indefinitely suspend late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) announced on Thursday that he filed a motion to subpoena Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr one day after he publicly warned ABC of negative consequences if the network kept Kimmel on the air.
"Enough of Congress sleepwalking while [President Donald] Trump and [Vice President JD] Vance shred the First Amendment and Constitution," Khanna declared. "It is time for Congress to stand up for Article I."
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, also said on Thursday that he was opening an investigation into the potential financial aspects of Carr's pressure campaign on ABC, including the involvement of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which is the network's largest affiliate and is currently involved in merger talks that will need FCC approval.
"The Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into ABC, Sinclair, and the FCC," he said. "We will not be intimidated and we will defend the First Amendment."
Progressive politicians weren't the only ones launching an investigation into the Kimmel controversy, as legal organization Democracy Forward announced that it's filed a a Freedom of Information Act request for records after January 20, 2025 related to any FCC efforts “to use the agency’s licensing and enforcement powers to police and limit speech and influence what the public can watch and hear.”