The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Palestinian territories (OCHA-oPt) acts as one of the primary coordinators of NGO funding and activity in the Arab-Israeli conflict, NGO Monitor reported Thursday, adding that these NGOs are highly active in promoting international BDS and “lawfare” campaigns, and some even engage in blatantly anti-Semitic activities.
Based on the resources and impact of its status as a UN agency, OCHA amplifies their politicized and distorted claims by publishing numerous reports, fact-sheets, and informational databases that parrot NGO allegations. The NGO sources lack the credible research methodology and necessary military and legal expertise to draw credible conclusions. These claims are then repeated by journalists and diplomats, feature prominently in official UN reports, such as the discredited 2009 Goldstone report and the Commission of the Inquiry into the 2014 Gaza War, an provide fuel in the ongoing international delegitimization campaign against Israel.
The NGO Monitor report’s key findings are:
OCHA organizers “Thematic Clusters,” where UN agencies, government donors, and NGOs coordinate anti-Israel campaigning on issues including water, housing, and armed conflict.
These “Clusters” serve to amplify the claims of NGOs that lack the necessary research methodology and military and legal expertise to draw reliable conclusions.
During the 2014 Gaza war, the OCHA Protection Cluster designated Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al Mezan, and B’Tselem, to provide “data” regarding casualty statistics. These NGOs lack credible methodologies for analysis of casualty claims. Moreover, in producing and publishing these casualty statistics, the NGOs in OCHA’s “Protection Cluster” as well as OCHA itself are largely dependent on the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, which is under the control of Hamas and thus not reliable.
OCHA also publishes numerous reports, factsheets, and informational databases, parroting the false and distorted claims of these NGOs, thereby seeking to give credence and credibility to highly misleading accusations.
These allegations are then repeated by journalists and diplomats, feature prominently in official UN reports, such as the discredited 2009 Goldstone report and the Commission of the Inquiry into the 2014 Gaza War, and provide fuel in the ongoing international delegitimization campaign against Israel.