The Jewish Agency for Israel defended on Thursday its gifting of tens of thousands of dollars in 2023 to an organization that has accused Israel of practicing apartheid, blamed it for the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, and offered to help the International Criminal Court build a war crimes case against the Jewish state.
The donation of 160,000 shekels ($43,000) to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) “aligns with one of the Jewish Agency’s goals—supporting those in need,” a spokesperson told JNS in response to a query seeking a reaction to criticism about the donation, which the recipient group reported in a recent budget report.
Following the Oct. 7 murder of some 1,200 Israelis and the abduction of 251 others to Gaza, PHR-I wrote in a statement: “These events can only be understood within the context of a brutal 15-year siege on two million Gazan residents, half of whom are children and most of whom are refugees or the children and grandchildren of refugees. The militants who infiltrated southern Israel yesterday were born into a reality of perpetual humanitarian crisis, air raids, deaths and injuries, and utter lack of hope. Pain breeds pain.” The NGO also condemned the attacks.
In 2022, PHR-I wrote with 10 other groups to Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, encouraging him to visit Judea and Samaria in preparation for legal action against Israel for alleged war crimes.
“Crimes, indeed, have been and are being committed,” the 2022 letter reads. “The court has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute; and, we are all committed to assisting.”
Following the ICC’s arrest warrants issued last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-defense minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges, PHR-I praised the move along with other groups with a text that called the warrants “important and necessary.”
NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based group that monitors anti-Israel nonprofits, has said that “Under the guise of medical expertise and scientific fact, PHR-I promotes distorted and false narratives, aimed at demonizing and delegitimizing Israel in the international arena.”
The B’tsalmo human rights group exposed the funding by the Jewish Agency on Wednesday, citing PHR-I’s budget report for 2023.
“The Jewish Agency’s role is to act for the benefit of the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people, and not to transfer grants to entities that assist terrorists and security prisoners,” wrote B’tsalmo executive director Shai Glick in a letter to the Jewish Agency protesting the funding. Glick was referencing PHR-I’s record of assisting terrorists in Israeli jails, including with legal representation.
Political issues
Asked to respond to these issues, a Jewish Agency spokesperson told JNS on the phone that the organization “is not going to go into the political issues here.”
Knesset member Limor Son Har-Melech, a lawmaker for National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit Party, penned a sharp-worded letter to the chairman of the Jewish Agency, Doron Almog, writing that “Support for ‘Physicians for Human Rights’ is a moral and public disgrace and a betrayal of the Zionist mission.”
She added: “Words cannot express the depth of astonishment and outrage. As the entire Jewish people was shocked and in deep mourning, the Jewish Agency chose to transfer a grant to an organization that represents the enemy: those who wounded our soldiers, raped our daughters, and murdered our children.”
In its full response to JNS, the Jewish Agency wrote that PHR-I had to sign a declaration ensuring that the donation would not be used for political purposes.
“Regarding this specific case, the donation was transferred as part of emergency funds during wartime, only after all required documents were provided and in return for a performance report reflecting the delivery of humanitarian assistance to foreign workers and their families in Israel. This aid aimed to address basic needs, including food and medical care (such as health insurance). Such assistance aligns with one of the Jewish Agency’s goals—supporting those in need,” the agency wrote.
The Jewish Agency is a nonprofit organization with funding from the Israeli government and from Diaspora communities, primarily in the United States, and other donors that has played a central role in the founding and development of the State of Israel. It facilitates aliyah and supports Jewish communities worldwide.