NGO branding masks troubling realities in Middle East advocacy groups
by Naftali Shavelson · The Washington TimesOPINION:
Here is some Middle East news you might have missed: An organization called Defense for Children International-Palestine recently closed its doors, citing “operational challenges.” That is likely an oblique nod to insurmountable funding cuts.
Although DCIP’s impact was limited, what the group did, what it was called and the yawning divide between the two exemplify the myths underpinning today’s NGO industry. Simply put, many contemporary NGOs’ names and branding often have little in common with their actual activities. They serve instead to deter necessary scrutiny of their deeds and associations.
Active since 1991, DCIP claimed “to promote and protect the human rights of Palestinian children.” However, what it framed as deliberate abuses of innocent youths in order to smear Israel were, most often, Israeli responses to terrorist attacks committed by Palestinian teens.
NGO Monitor, the research institute where I work, has documented more than 70 such examples.
Beyond working as an Israel-demonization machine, DCIP was extremely enmeshed in the Palestinian “resistance” arena, designated by Israel in 2021 as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group.
Various DCIP officials’ terrorist ties are also well-documented. For example, after the death of DCIP “community mobilization coordinator” Hashem Abu Maria, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine eulogized the man as a “leader.”
Most galling, in December 2014, DCIP’s “director of child protection,” Riyad Arar, was filmed speaking at a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine memorial surrounded by flags and posters of the terrorist group. Also present, listening dutifully to the words of this supposed children’s rights champion, were minors dressed in the group’s Palestinian garb.
Mr. Arar told the world he was a defender of Palestinian children and then turned around and gave a pass to blatant glorification of child soldiers.
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It seems that DCIP’s dishonesty and ties to terrorism eventually caught up with it, but its life and death betray a deeper truth about the world of civil society and non-state organizations: They often are precisely the opposite of what they most loudly claim to be.
Some cases in point: the “Union of Good,” which isn’t particularly “good” at all. The group was designated by the Treasury as a Hamas funding vehicle, which, I would argue, qualifies quite comfortably as “bad.”
EuroMed Feminist Initiative members, meanwhile, celebrated Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and torture of Israelis (including mass rapes and sexual atrocities). It is unclear which wave of feminism is advanced by these horrors.
More famously, much ink has already been spilled about Queers for Palestine and the group’s subversion and endangerment of the LGBTQ cause (a la “Chickens for KFC”) whenever doing so presents an opportunity to rail against Israel.
Back to child soldiers, a practice of Palestinian terrorist organizations to which DCIP has turned a blind eye since its founding. This, despite it being one of the most prominent affronts to the security of youths in the Palestinian territories.
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In the NGO world, names and slogans have become rhetorical sleight of hand, divorced from reality. Often, to find an NGO that does X, look for one whose name asserts precisely the opposite.
It’s not just marketing. What is at play is a sinister, industrywide campaign to launder illiberal, immoral and potentially illegal activities through high-minded branding, using it as a shield against criticism.
“How could you possibly be against defending children?” DCIP’s defenders ask as they endanger a whole generation of Palestinian youths. The facade shatters under scrutiny, but its damage has often already been done.
So, what’s in a name? For nongovernmental organizations, a whole lot, but usually the opposite of what you would think.
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• Naftali Shavelson is international spokesperson at the NGO Monitor research institute.