This archive report was first published on 5 November 2021.
Published on November 5, 2021, a report by 972mag highlighted the Israeli authorities' raids on offices and harassment of staff members of Palestinian NGOs. The most recent incident occurred in July 2021, when Israeli soldiers raided the D.C.I.P. office in Al-Bireh, seizing computers, hard drives, and client files related to Palestinian child detainees.
International human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have also been targeted. In 2019, Israel deported Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine director, Omar Shakir, after a long legal battle. The same year, it imposed a travel ban on Amnesty International's West Bank-based campaigner, Laith Abu Zeyad.
These tactics are part of a wider campaign to delegitimize, defund, and gut Palestinian NGOs. The shrinking space of Palestinian civil society has been well-documented. The Israeli government, with support from groups like NGO Monitor and UK Lawyers for Israel, has been spearheading this campaign to disseminate disinformation and pursue these groups in court.
The attacks on civil society are not limited to organizations operating in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. They spill out into courtrooms, campuses, and government offices across Europe and North America through smear campaigns, anti-boycott laws, and lawsuits meant to distract and drain nonprofit organizations providing solidarity to Palestinian civil society.
Israel's goal in labeling Palestinian human rights defenders as 'terrorists' is to weaponize the infrastructure of antiterrorism laws created after September 11, targeting their legitimate work and making their organizations, efforts, and persons toxic and untouchable.
