In a new report presented to members of the European Parliament, NGO Monitor details the damaging impact of highly secretive European Union funding for radical political advocacy Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
According to the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, EU funds are going to organizations involved in anti-Israel boycotts and violent demonstrations, which undermine the EU’s efforts to secure peace in the Middle East.
The report, Lack of Due Diligence and Transparency in European Union Funding for Radical NGOs, shows how EU-funded NGOs lead the campaigns to demonize Israel through the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) – actions that entirely contradict the EU’s proclaimed objectives of supporting peace and democratic development.
“The EU’s grantees are centrally involved in the 2001 Durban NGO Forum’s strategy of political warfare and demonization of Israel. The Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) and its allies are driving Europe’s double standards that single-out Israel through product labeling,” stated Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. “The EU refusal to release any significant documents that shed light on funding decisions reflects a clear violation of transparency principles, and allows for highly irresponsible EC actions.”
“The study emphasizes the fundamental damage caused by extreme secrecy and the lack of due diligence in the European Commission’s decision-making for funding radical NGOs,” continued Steinberg. “The facts clearly demonstrate that either the officials involved were unaware of the groups chosen to receive taxpayer funds, or that they chose to promote NGOs that fuel the conflict and promote confrontation, under the facade of ‘non-violence.'”
The EU report follows an NGO Monitor report presented in Washington in May on U.S. Government funding for several Middle East political NGOs. On the basis of this publication, members of Congress and U.S. Government officials took action to insure transparency prevent the misallocation of such grants for counterproductive NGOs.