[NGO Monitor] Highly-politicized NGOs that receive funds from the EU ostensibly to promote coexistence seek to distort and rewrite 3,000 years of Jewish history in Jerusalem to promote an overtly anti-Israel agenda. Organizations such as B'tselem, Ir Amim and the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ) ignore the ancient Jewish presence in the Old City's Jewish Quarter, disrupted only by its "ethnic cleansing" during the Jordanian occupation in 1948-67. Excavations and archaeological activity in the City of David, a site central to Jerusalem's biblical heritage, is delegitimized as part of an Israeli settlement plan. NGO publicity campaigns have a significant impact on international policy towards Jerusalem. A position paper released by the EU in December 2008 showed the degree to which such NGO claims were copied directly, totally disregarding Israel's historical and legal rights in Jerusalem. "The flow of European government funds, including from the EU, to political organizations...for use in the political war against Israel on the issue of Jerusalem is one of the most damaging aspects of European funding directed against Israel," said NGO Monitor's executive director, Prof. Gerald Steinberg.
2009-05-21 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive