In 2010, the Jerusalem-based pro-Israel organization
NGO Monitor criticized the Dutch Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO) for providing financial support to
The Electronic Intifada, which it said was
antisemitic and
compared Israeli policies with those of the Nazi regime.
[8] Gerald M. Steinberg, head of the organization, described
The Electronic Intifada as "an explicitly pro-Palestinian political and ideological Web site"
[9] that hosts "anti-Israel propaganda."
[10] Marinus Verweij, chairman of ICCO’s executive board said "The
EI reports frequently about the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the State of Israel. In no way is the
EI anti-Israel or anti-Semitic."
[8] He described
The Electronic Intifada as "an important source of information from the occupied Palestinian territories" frequently used by newspapers such as
The Washington Post and the
Financial Times.
[8] Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Ward Bezemer stated that whether ICCO had promoted anti-semitism, a criminal offence, is to be determined by the Public Prosecutor on the basis of Dutch law. On 26 November 2010, Dutch Foreign Minister
Uri Rosenthal, who is Jewish and has an Israeli wife, said: "I will look into the matter personally. If it appears that the government subsidized NGO ICCO does fund
The Electronic Intifada, it will have a serious problem with me."
[8] Rosenthal later told IKON radio that "anti-semitism is not the issue" but "my concern about calls to contribute to boycotts and embargoes".
[11]
The Electronic Intifada responded to NGO Monitor's statements regarding ICCO's financial support.
The Electronic Intifada wrote: "NGO Monitor is an extreme right-wing group with close ties to the Israeli government, military, West Bank settlers, a man convicted of misleading the US Congress, and to notoriously Islamophobic individuals and organizations in the United States."
[12] EI co-founder MP Arjan El-Fassed, who also wrote for the website Al-Awda, told the Dutch newspaper
De Volkskrant that the fuss created by NGO Monitor was related to one quote from an interview with Jewish
Holocaust survivor and anti-Zionist
Hajo Meyer in June 2009. Meyer told
EI: "I can write up an endless list of similarities between Nazi Germany and Israel."
[13] In the same article, the Director of the Centre for Information and Documentation Israel (CIDI),
Ronnie Naftaniel, said that
The Electronic Intifada is not an anti-Semitic website. He stated that, while everybody should be free to express their opinion, the Dutch government should not indirectly fund a website that regularly calls for a boycott of Israel.
[14]
On 14 January 2011, ICCO decided not to change its policy after a discussion held with the Dutch foreign minister.
[15] In response to ICCO's decision,
The Jerusalem Post reports that Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal "will monitor ICCO’s activities. He will consider this as a minus when he makes up the balance when ICCO applies again in a new subsidies round," as said by Ward Bezemer, a spokesman for Rosenthal."
[16] Partos, a national umbrella for more than a hundred Dutch civil society organizations in the international development cooperation sector, strongly condemned Rosenthal's threats to ICCO's funding. "Rosenthal's position vis-à-vis ICCO creates a dangerous precedent for the future. Development organisations will have to continue to fight for an independent voice in the debate. Partos will ... stand up for that."
[17] In April 2011, Professor of International Cooperation Studies Paul Hoebink argued that Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal has no say in Dutch government funding to ICCO because Minister
Ben Knapen holds the portfolio. In addition, ICCO's contribution to
The Electronic Intifada is paid with ICCO's own funds. Professor of International Law and Dutch politicians for the
Labour Party,
Nico Schrijver considered Rosenthal's threat to cut government funding if ICCO continues its financial support to
The Electronic Intifada as very worrying.
[18]
www.pewresearch.org
