NGO Monitor: EU-funded groups promote Palestinian positions on Jerusalem
Jerusalem-based organization says B’tselem, Ir Amim 'ignoring ancient Jewish presence in Old City’s Jewish Quarter,' using their resources 'to promote overtly anti-Israel agenda'
NGO Monitor’s latest research project documents the role of "highly politicized NGOs in the narrative wars that seek to distort and rewrite 3000 years of Jewish history in Jerusalem."
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According to NGO Monitor, which is based in the Israeli capital, "organizations such as B’tselem, Ir Amim and Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ) who receive funds from the European Union ostensibly in order to promote coexistence, are primarily using their resources to promote an overtly anti-Israel agenda.
"Ignoring the ancient Jewish presence in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, disrupted only by their eviction and the Jordanian occupation between 1948-67, B’tselem and Ir Amim erroneously label residents of the neighborhood as ‘settlers’, in order to strengthen their political campaign against the return of the Jewish population," NGO Monitor said.
The organization added that "in a further attempt to stigmatize the Israeli presence in Jerusalem, and erase the scars of mass terror attacks, the separation barrier is portrayed by B’tselem and Bimkom (funded by EU and New Israel Fund) as an attempt to annex land, disregarding Israel’s
legitimate security concerns.
"Similarly, the Jerusalem Municipality’s actions to prevent illegal construction are dismissed as an excuse to ruthlessly destroy Palestinian homes by B’tselem and ARIJ, who falsely describe these policies as Israeli attempts to ‘erase all trace of Palestinian existence’ in Jerusalem," NGO Monitor said.
NGO Monitor’s executive director, Prof Gerald Steinberg commented “The status of Jerusalem is one of the central and most sensitive issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The flow of European government funds, including from the EU, to political organizations such as B’tselem and Ir Amim, for use in the political war against Israel on the issue of Jerusalem is one of the most damaging aspects of European funding directed against Israel.
"These NGOs should not be abusing their moral claims on human rights and coexistence in order to support efforts to turn back the clock to the dark days of 1948-1967, when no Jews could live or even visit the Old City and the Jewish sacred sites,” he said.
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