Joint Statement: Draconian measure against human rights

25 October 2021

The Minister of Defense's designation of prominent Palestinian civil society organizations, among them our colleagues in the Palestinian human rights community, as terrorist organizations, is a draconian measure that criminalizes critical human rights work. Documentation, advocacy, and legal aid are fundamental activities for the protection of human rights worldwide. Criminalizing such work is an act of cowardice, characteristic of repressive authoritarian regimes. Civil society and human rights defenders must be protected. We stand in solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues, and call on members of the Israeli government and the international community to oppose this decision unequivocally.

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Yuli Novak – B’Tselem’s new executive director

After nine years, B’Tselem’s executive director, Hagai El-Ad, is stepping down. Yuli Novak was chosen by B’Tselem Board to serve as the new executive director. Amid political turmoil, and against a growing consensus in Jewish Israeli society, El-Ad led a steadfast line of resistance to the occupation and worked to keep it on the political and public agenda. During his tenure, B’Tselem stopped referring complaints to the military law enforcement system, which serves as a whitewashing mechanism for violence against Palestinians by security forces. B’Tselem also called on snipers to refuse orders to use live fire against Palestinian protesters on the other side of the Gaza perimeter fence and insisted on the need for the international community to step in in defense of Palestinians’ human rights. Under El-Ad’s leadership, B’Tselem challenged the common misconception that Israel is a democracy that maintains alongside a temporary regime of occupation and unflinchingly exposed reality: the regime between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean is an apartheid regime that promotes Jewish supremacy in the entire area under its control. Adv. Yuli Novak served as the executive director of Breaking the Silence between 2012 and 2017, a time when the attack the Israeli government and right-wing organizations waged against Israeli human rights organizations reached new heights. Novak led the fight against this campaign to delegitimize the organizations and their work and wrote about this time and the political insights she gained in a personal-political memoir entitled “Who do you think you are?” published last year. In the past few years, Novak has founded and run a project designed to help Israeli and Palestinian social justice and political activists hone their strategic skills. “I’m grateful to Hagai El-Ad for years of courageous, principled leadership at B’Tselem,” Novak said, “As an Israeli, it is my duty and right to firmly demand an end to the occupation and the replacement of the apartheid regime with a democracy. This is the only way to ensure the human rights of everyone living in this land. More and more people, Israelis and others, understand today that democracy and occupation cannot coexist and that there is no democracy under apartheid. My commitment, our commitment, is to continue driving this understanding forward at home and abroad, with honesty, devotion and determination.”

26 June 2023

General

53 civil society organizations in solidarity with the Palestinian organizations designated by Israel as “terrorist groups”

Defense of human rights is not terrorism. Israel is persisting in its declaration of prominent Palestinian civil society organizations as terrorist groups. Recently, the military put words into action by raiding their offices and shutting them down. These declarations are baseless. Indeed, the U.S. Administration, the European Union and other allies of Israel found Israel’s allegations unconvincing. After thoroughly examining the material Israel provided them, all of the European countries that are donors to these organizations decided to continue their support. Documentation, advocacy and legal aid are the core of human rights work around the world. Criminalizing such activity is a deplorable act characteristic of repressive regimes. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human rights defenders in Palestinian society. We repudiate these baseless declarations and call on the international community to pressure Israel to revoke its decision. A Land for All | Academia for Equality | ACAP - The Arab Center for Alternative Planning | Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel | Akevot Institute | ASSAF |Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights | Breaking the Silence | B'Tselem | Coalition of Women Against Weapons | Combatants for Peace | Emek Shaveh | Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement | Gun Free Kitchen Tables | HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual | Haqel: In Defense of Human Rights | Harvest Coalition | Human Rights Defenders Fund | Ir Amim | Isha L'Isha | Itach Ma'aki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice | J Street | Kerem Navot | Looking the Occupation in the Eye | Machsom Watch | Mahapach-Taghir | Mehazkim | Mesarvot | Mothers Against Violence | Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equlity | New Israel Fund | Oz Veshalom: Israel's Jewish Religious Peace Movement | Parents against Child Detention | Peace Now | Peace NGO Forum | Physicians for Human Rights Israel | Psychoactive | Rabbis for Human Rights | Recognition Forum | Sikkuy-Aufoq | Social TV | The Abraham Initiatives | The Association for Civil Rights in Israel | The Joint Democratic Initiative | The Parents Circle – Families Forum | The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel | The School for Peace | Torat Tzedek – Torah Of Justice | Women Against Violence | Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights | Yesh-Gvul | Zazim – Community Action | Zochrot

21 August 2022

General

Joint call by Israeli civil society organizations to donors of designated Palestinian NGOs

In a joint statement published in Haaretz on 5 November 2021, we called on the international community to unequivocally oppose the Israeli government’s designation of six Palestinian civil society organizations as ‘terrorist organizations’. As our statement says: criminalizing the work of these prominent Palestinian NGOs is an act of cowardice, characteristic of repressive authoritarian regimes. The designations are intended to intimidate international donors of the six NGOs and of Palestinian civil society more broadly. For years, the Israeli government and groups affiliated with it have been waging aggressive campaigns to defund NGOs that peacefully challenge Israel’s occupation and annexation policies. Palestinian NGOs have been the main target of these campaigns. The recent designations are the Israeli government’s ultimate attempt to defund them. We urge all donors of the six NGOs – governments, foundations and individuals – to maintain and, if possible, to increase their funding. Defunding the designated NGOs based on unsubstantiated allegations and designations will cause irreparable damage to Palestinian civil society at large and would undermine decades of humanitarian and human rights work. Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel Association for Civil Rights in Israel Breaking the Silence B’Tselem Combatants for Peace Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual Human Rights Defenders Fund Ir Amim Ofek – The Israeli Center for Public Affairs Parents Against Child Detention Physicians for Human Rights Israel Yesh Din

12 January 2022