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The European Lobby in Israel

(Jerusalem Post) Seth J. Frantzman - Between 2002 and 2008, the European Parliament's European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) granted a total of $14 million to various Israeli NGOs. $5.5 million was directed specifically to causes for Palestinians, while a further $7 million went specifically to programs that benefit Israeli Arabs. Even when the EIDHR funded programs for women, it did so only for programs for Bedouin or Israeli Arab women. Not one cent was directed toward any of the diverse Jewish communities in Israel: Ethiopians, Russians, Yemenites, Persians or Jews from the Caucasus. Around $73,000 was directed towards former IDF soldiers to get them to provide testimony that might lead to a process whereby European courts might put soldiers or their officers on trial for war crimes. In addition, in its November 2009 report "Trojan Horse: The Impact of European Government Funding for Israeli NGOs," NGO Monitor illustrated that individual European embassies in Israel and other EU projects give lavishly to Israeli NGOs, sometimes even making up the majority of their budgets. In fact "foreign-funded local NGOs are responsible for a significant portion of the petitions brought before the Israeli High Court of Justice," says the report. The EU has created an internal lobby within Israel to get Israel to bend to its will.
2010-02-26 08:24:23
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