Dear friends,

When faced with criticism of its occupation of the Palestinians, the response of the Israeli government and its allies is often to “shoot the messenger” rather than actually engage with the message. Israeli human rights organizations, including HaMoked, have been subjected to Parliamentary inquiries, smear campaigns and other efforts to discredit our work and halt our sources of funding.

Palestinian organizations have faced much more restrictive measures. The Israeli military has raided their offices and detained their staff, including holding people in administrative detention, without charge or trial.

On Friday, Defense Minister Gantz designated six Palestinian civil society organizations as “terror organizations” under Israel’s Anti-Terror Law of 2016. The list includes three of Palestine’s most prominent human rights organizations: al-Haq, Defense for Children International and Addameer.

The evidence presented to justify these designations is extremely flimsy. It includes the “allegation” that al-Haq is involved in “promotion of steps against Israel in the international arena” and that Addameer “focuses on assisting prisoners convicted of security offenses” – in short, entirely legitimate activities of human rights organizations.

HaMoked joined with 24 Israeli organizations to categorically condemn the criminalization of Palestinian civil society. These are draconian measures which outlaw legitimate efforts against the Israeli occupation.

We are proud to stand with our colleagues in the human rights community, and call on all those who support free speech and freedom of association – both in Israel and in the international community – to unequivocally oppose this attack on Palestinian civil society.

Sincerely,

Jessica Montell
Executive Director of HaMoked