Report: Foreign Governments Funding NGOs Backing ICC Probe

Foreign governments have been funding NGOs advocating for the International Criminal Court probe of alleged Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians in the 2014 Gaza war, The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.

The information came from a report prepared by the NGO Monitor on the period 2017-2019, which focused on the 35 Israeli NGOs involved in political advocacy that receive foreign government monies.

The report said that a significant portion of the funds went to supporting the ICC investigation, though no specific figure was given.

They NGOs received a total of NIS 319,466,917 (about $100 million), 58% of which (NIS 185,387,008) came directly or indirectly from foreign governments.

Germany was the largest donor, providing NIS 43,636,794, followed by the E.U. and the Netherlands.

The New Israel Fund was the largest private donor, followed by the London-based Sigrid Rausing Trust and billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundation.

Recipients included B’Tselem, Yesh Din, Adalah and Yesh Atid.

B’Tselem decided earlier this year to label Israel an apartheid state.

Yesh Din’s grant from the Netherlands in 2018, which accounted for 91% of its financing, noted its commitment that the “issue of impunity of [Israeli security forces personnel] in cases of offenses committed against Palestinians in the West Bank and in Jerusalem remains on international agenda.”