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NGO Monitor (Non-governmental organization monitor) is an Israeli non-governmental organization with the stated aim of monitoring other non-governmental organizations operating in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. NGO Monitor describes its goal as "end[ing] the practice used by certain self-declared 'humanitarian NGOs' of exploiting the label 'universal human rights values' to promote politically and ideologically motivated anti-Israel agendas."

Contents 1 Structure and staff 2 Activities 3 Praise and criticism of activities 3.1 Praise 3.2 Criticism 4 References 5 External links

It is a program of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and was formerly a joint project with B'nai Brith International.^[1].

Apart from interns, its staff includes^[2]:

• Dr. Dore Gold, Publisher (a former Israeli ambassador, currently President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon)
• Gerald M. Steinberg, Editor (Professor of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Program on Conflict Management and Negotiation; also a Senior Research Associate at the BESA Center for Strategic Studies, a consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Security Council, and a columnist)^[3]
• Simon Plosker, Managing Editor (formerly public affairs officer for the Board of Deputies of British Jews and British Aliyah Movement co-ordinator)^[4]
• Aharon Etengoff, Webmaster and Senior Researcher (formerly of the Photography & Film and Public Relations Departments of the IDF Spokesperson’s Office)^[5]

NGO Monitor has criticized several international human rights organisations, such as Christian Aid (for its alleged "extensive involvement in anti-Israel propaganda campaigns"^[6]), Human Rights Watch (for being "systematically and exceedingly biased"^[7]), Amnesty International,^[8] Oxfam^[9] and Medecins Sans Frontieres.^[10]

It has also accused the Ford Foundation of funding organisations such as the Palestinian Al Mezan Center, which it claimed was involved in "blatantly political anti-Israel activities".^[11] Subsequent to this criticism, the Ford Foundation modified its policies regarding funding of NGOs. ^[12]

NGO Monitor criticized the New Israel Fund for funding organizations that the NGO Monitor claims are engaged in a "campaign to delegitimize Israel." These claims where denied by the director of the New Israel Fund who described NGO Monitors criticism as "un-democratic and un-Jewish" and "inherently and fundamentally flawed." ^[13]

David Bedein describes NGO Monitor as a "watchdog organization" in FrontPageMag.com article.^[14] NGO Monitor's reports appear regularly on the "Around the World" section of the "Hotbeds of Prejudice" subpage of the Israeli Hasbara Committee website ^[15].

Critics dismiss NGO Monitor as politically motivated and biased. At Political Research Associates, Jean Hardisty and Elizabeth Furdon describe it as a "conservative NGO watchdog group, NGO Monitor, which focuses on perceived threats to Israeli interests", adding that "The ideological slant of NGO Monitor's work is unabashedly pro-Israeli. It does not claim to be a politically neutral examination of NGO activities and practices."^[16] Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community Based Organisations in Israel, labels NGO Monitor as "an organ of the American pro-Israel lobby." ^[17]

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]
4. ^ [4]
5. ^ [5]
6. ^ [6]
7. ^ [7]
8. ^ [8]
9. ^ [9]
10. ^ [10]
11. ^ [11]
12. ^ [12]
13. ^ [13]
14. ^ [14]
15. ^ [15]
16. ^ Policing Civil Society Spring 2004, Political Research Associates
17. ^ [16]

• NGO Monitor home page
• Ambassador Dore Gold's biography
• NGO Monitor should not be taken seriously by Yacoub Kahlen and Robert E. Foxsohn, The Electronic Intifada, 18 October 2005
• The Israeli NGO's Monitor: Aims, purposes and mixture of claims, deformation of facts and illusions (Al-Jazeerah)