Europe to 'Breaking the Silence': Funds conditional on minimum number of testimonies

When a human-rights organization gets funded per the number of human-rights violations it finds, it causes a conflict of interest.  

Imagine an antisemitism watchdog that gets paid per story or gets funding only if it publishes a certain amount of incident reports.  Would anybody believe their reports?  Obviously not.   

But when it comes to vilifying Jews, anything goes.

Via NGO-Monitor:

On May 4, 2015, the political advocacy NGO Breaking the Silence (BtS)  published a booklet of testimonies concerning the Summer 2014 Gaza conflict. (As of the morning of May 4, it is only available in Hebrew.) It stands to reason that this publication is meant to support the UN’s “Schabas” investigation and bolster attempts to bring charges against Israeli officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC). As with many other BtS publications, this report lacks all credibility and objectivity. Likewise, the extensive foreign funding that Breaking the Silence receives, as well as its international political activities, highlight the problems with this publication. 

Despite the NGO’s claim that its mission is to address Israeli society, BtS lobbying, media campaigns, and frequent appearances in Europe and the United States target international audiences. Next month (June 4-14), BtS activists will appear in Switzerland to present their political agenda at an event organized by supporters of pro-BDS groups.

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Contrary to BtS’ claim that “the contents and opinions in this booklet do not express the position of the funders,” NGO Monitor research reveals that a number of funders made their grants conditional on the NGO obtaining a minimum number of negative “testimonies.” This contradicts BtS’ declarations and thus turns it into an organization that represents its foreign donors’ interest, severely damaging the NGO’s reliability and its ability to analyze complicated combat situations.

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BtS’s donors in 2013-2014 include the European Union, Misereor (Germany), Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), Norway, AECID (Spain), Dan Church Aid (Denmark), ICCO (Netherlands), CCFD (France), Human Rights and International Law Secretariat (joint funding from Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands), Sigrid Rausing Trust (UK), SIVMO (Netherlands), Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Open Society Institute, and New Israel Fund.  more