Callousness on Israeli diplomatic sprees will not suffice

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Prominent human rights activist Ginetta Sagan’s adage that ‘silence in the face of injustice equates to complicity with the oppressor’ certainly applies to "Israel’s" latest diplomatic spree of wooing lobby groups in Washington D.C. toward designating Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. State-sponsored propaganda that is unabashedly promoted has led to backlashes from American progressives, members of Congress, and the international community, but for anti-apartheid activists, such denunciation would be viewed as cosmetic and transient due to the lack of concrete action as a follow-up. The truth is that Israeli officials are choking the last ounce of advocacy left for a population under occupation and criminal silence in the face of injustice on Palestinian NGOs would definitely equate to complicity with the oppressor.  

Such silence is not an anomaly, however. Israeli Security Minister Benny Gantz’s vicious ploy to designate six Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations as terrorists in October 2021 was met with little denunciation. Since then, Israeli officers brazenly raided offices of human rights organizations in August 2022 and confiscated computers and property despite repeated calls of innocence from the targeted. While true, that the US State Department expressed concern over the raids, spokesman Ned Price also expressed confidence that "Israel" will share information which justifies its actions. Such callousness from the United States borders on plausible deniability, as it sidesteps outcries by the United Nations human rights office over arbitrary actions by "Israel" in the absence of an iota of credible evidence. It simply gives "Israel" the license to choke the Palestinian cause even further. 

The question, however, is whether the same policy of denial will continue as Israeli officials embark on designating Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. Realists would argue that denunciation and condemnation from progressives will not result in Washington changing course on turning a blind eye to egregious human rights violations taking place. Many would also argue that realists are spot on with their assessments. In an open letter to the Biden administration, six NGOs having borne the brunt of Israeli brutality called on Washington to condemn the Israeli government’s actions and reject its unsubstantiated allegations against civil society organizations. Yet what followed was utter nonchalance in the absence of any policy statement or outcry from the administration which continues to bank on Israeli information for verification of terrorist claims against NGOs. This is simply appalling.  

For a regime which banks on disinformation to sanitize its apartheid policies against an oppressed population, it is unfathomable that information from the Israeli government is taken at face value instead of evidence of attacks committed on organizations promoting human rights and protecting oppressed and occupied populations. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 remains a common standard for upholding fundamental human rights with Article 9 stating that no person will be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Such precepts are often quoted by the United States while demonizing China for alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang, but are conveniently ignored when "Israel" commits similar actions unabashedly and brutally.  

The delegation that visited Washington D.C. also consisted of officials from the Shin Bet intelligence agency, which has gained notoriety over the years for target killings alongside the Israeli Airforce. Shin Bet has detained officials running mobile clinics for Palestinians such as the Physicians for Human Rights and employed methods which have inflicted severe pain on Palestinian prisoners which the Israeli Supreme Court declared illegal in 1999. Beyond Shin Bet, regime complicity was also evident as the financial intelligence units of both the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Security were spearheading efforts to have Palestinian NGOs blacklisted. Shin Bet presented its concocted and flawed intelligence regarding rationales for shuttering civil society groups to the Biden administration which has sought to currently review it. Such review processes are taking place despite the agency’s controversial and condemnable record. 

Interestingly, European Union officials privy to the information being disseminated as well as American Democratic lawmakers have claimed that intelligence provided since this campaign started is not sufficient enough to label the NGOs as terrorist organizations. Yet the priorities of the Washington D.C. administration lie in trusting controversial institutions which make up the Israeli state which is similar to America’s response to the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022. The Israeli Occupation Forces sought veritable information which equates to bypassing the killing of a Palestinian American journalist in broad daylight which dented America’s credibility in the eyes of the Palestinians. As far as blacklisting NGOs are concerned, Israeli officials are sidestepping how significant funding from EU member states as well as the United Nations are allowing organizations such as Al Haq to operate. Al Haq as a shuttered group was notified that its finances would be restored as no evidence was found of irregularities. Yet the Israeli Security Ministry designated the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committee, Bisan Research, and Addameer which deals with Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails as terrorist organizations. 

It is high time that the international community calls out Israeli diplomatic efforts in the United States as an attempt to whitewash its crimes against the Palestinian people. Bypassing the legitimate demands of NGOs denigrates the essence of multilateralism, international human rights law, the United Nations, and the European Union which have supported and funded such organizations. Stripping the Palestinian people of their right to advocacy should not go hand in hand with an occupation that has only increased in severity as arbitrary arrests and evidence of torture become more routine and deeply entrenched. 

After all, silence in the face of injustice equates to complicity with the oppressor.