Monday, February 29, 2016
Elder of ZiyonThe piece is ridiculous, because its underlying assumption is that Israel is one of the world's worst violators of human rights. So, the author complains, there are no sanctions on Israel as there are for other countries - without mentioning that these are for things like selling arms to countries like Afghanistan and Sudan.
But perhaps more interesting than how the author twists facts is the author himself.
I had never heard of EuMEP, so I did a little research.
It has no logo.
It has no Facebook page.
It doesn't even have a Twitter account (although someone already had the @eumep account.)
It also does not have a functioning web page, even though the domain was registered nearly a year ago. Here is all that it says:
EuMEP is a new and independent project in Brussels that promotes a just and effective EU policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. EuMEP believes that the EU can and should use its leverage to induce respect for international law and help resolve the conflict. EuMEP combines analytical work and advocacy, working closely with a number of leading NGOs and experts. EuMEP supports security, freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians.
This of course means that it is meant to convince the EU to pressure Israel, and only Israel, to make unilateral concessions. No one says that Palestinians should be pressured to respect international law, even though they have violated more than their fair share and no one talks about it.
But what has EuMEP done? And who works for it?
I have not been able to find a single employee outside of Martin Konecny himself.
Yet as director of this invisible organization, Konecny has managed to get himself quoted as an expert in various articles about how important it is for the EU to act against Israel. He has also been used as an expert for meetings at the UN.
He also tweets implicitly anti-Israel cartoons:
The DNS registration for the domain gives an address of Huidevettersstraat 165 in Brussels. The occupant at that address is an NGO called Broederlijk Delen, an anti-poverty organization that also supports "peaceful resistance" by Palestinians.Cartoon on NRC Handelsblad frontpage says 'Don't be afraid. He only bites Palestinians' pic.twitter.com/CoqKQVM80u— Martin Konecny (@MartinKonecny) October 26, 2015
Even though EuMEP has no apparent staff, no presence and no output, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund gave it it $70,000 last year for "peacekeeping." And that's just the one funder I could find.
It proves the point that Bassem Eid made when he said that many will throw lots of money at any anti-Israel NGO. Especially when they try to hide their anti-Israel agenda with a message of "peace."
Konecny did not respond to my request for information about the organization.
UPDATE: Bob Knot uncovered that the cofounder of EuMEP is Martin Siepermann, who has a history of anti-Israel activities at The Rights Forum and Electronic Intifada.
UPDATE 2: This document that mentions 5 founders - some that are well-known anti-Israel activists - was discovered:
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