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British government attacked over funding

Updated: 16/Nov/2005 18:41

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A British government department has come under fire for funding anti-Israel organizations without investigating where the money is going.

The department for international development aims to encourage the fighting of poverty and the increase of development in under-developed regions.

But according to a new report by the Jerusalem-based NGO monitor, many well-known non-governmental organisations including Christian Aid and Oxfam, are using government cash to fund campaigns which “demonise Israel” and “promote violence”.

The DFID is independent of the foreign office and makes its own foreign policy decisions. The NGO monitor report points to the DFID’s process of granting money to NGOs though long-term Partnership Programme Agreements as an example of dangerous policy.

Lack of accountability

The report claims that in funding PPAs, DFID does not require partners to account for their expenditures. As a result, a number of DFID funding recipients are able to divert the money away from the DFID's goals, and use the money to promote violence.

“The lack of accountability in DFID Partnership Programme Agreements enables political groups to take funds intended for fighting poverty, and use them instead on demonisation campaigns,” said Gerald Steinberg, editor of NGO Monitor, which promotes critical debate and accountability of human rights NGOs.

“These PPAs directly contradict DFID's goals of development for poverty relief, which require an internal focus on assisting Palestinian development, rather than externally directed political agendas,” Steinberg added.

Christian Aid

According to NGO monitor, Christian Aid has been linked to the divestment campaign against Israel, through its support of Sabeel.

The monitor said that DFID is fueling a campaign to isolate Israel internationally, in opposition to the stated position of the British government, which declares that "constructive engagement with Israel is the best approach to exert influence on it."

Another organization cited by NGO monitor as abusing DFID funds is the Overseas Development Institute.

The NGO monitor report says: “DFID’s funding of ODI, a supposedly ‘independent think tank on humanitarian and development policy’, is a further example of a humanitarian remit being misused to make externally focussed attacks against Israel.”

It illustrates how ODI, which has been granted just over a million pounds a year by the DFID, has produced articles blame Israel for creating mental health problems in Palestinians, ignoring the ongoing Palestinian terror.

Despite numerous phone calls to the DFID office, a spokesman for the department was unable to respond to the NGO monitor accusations highlighted by EJP.