European-funded NGO teaches Arabs to write anti-Israel propaganda on Wikipedia (update)

Here is a video showing Arabs learning how to edit Wikipedia entries. (The HP computers are especially interesting.)



The logo behind the operators shows that the office is at the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, an anti-Israel NGO that I believe gets funding from many European nations and other NGOs.

If you look up this program at the Euro-Med Monitor site, you will see that they claim merely that they aim "to improve [Wikipedia] content with information on human rights."

But if you look at how the project is described in Arabic news sites, you find out the truth:

The Euro - Mediterranean office in the Gaza Strip launched in the middle of October a "Wikipedia Palestine" project, in cooperation with the Arab Center for the Development of Social Media, which aims to create a cadre of activists and editors for  the encyclopedia "Wikipedia."
Rawan Abu-Assad, who coordinates social media in the Euro - Mediterranean Observatory, talks about the new project:
What are the goals of "Wikipedia Palestine" project?
"Euro-Mediterranean" is seeking through the project to enrich the content of human rights in the free encyclopedia "Wikipedia", promoting the narrative of victims of Israeli violations in the Palestinian territories to present them before the other party's [Israeli] narrative.

We've seen the work of Euro-Med before, and they are anything but objective, and the only human rights they care about are the ones they can use as weapons against Israel, no matter how absurd the claims.

A couple of years ago there was an uproar when Israelis were teaching activists how to use Wikipedia to help hasbara efforts. You can be sure that there will be no outcry about this, even though the goals are explicitly to bash Israel.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

UPDATE: An earlier version of this post mixed up the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, which are two separate NGOs. I am not yet certain where this group gets its funding from.

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Fake "human rights" NGO condemns "Talmudic prayers" by "storming settlers"

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor shows that is it just a front for anti-Israel activities with their latest press release:

Israeli authorities deported 227 Palestinians and detained 225 others during January-August. In addition, 7,200 settlers accompanied by Israeli officers and soldiers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound during the same period.

In 2014, nearly 11,000 Jews stormed the Al-Aqsa compound during the year (a number that is 28 percent higher than during 2013, and almost double that of 2012).

This year, April witnessed the highest percentage of violations; 1,412 settlers accompanied by 93 officers and soldiers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound.

Among the provocative acts documented by Euro-Med researchers against Palestinians in Jerusalem were performance of Talmudic prayers near Muslim worshippers, beating, throwing rubbish, cursing, death threats and preventing worshippers from reaching the mosque.

We've previously seen that this "human rights" group had counted terrorists as "children" in their list of victims of Israeli "war crimes." It has blamed Israel for Gaza men beating their wives.  It has illustrated one of its biased reports with an antisemitic cartoon. It employs people who actively support terrorism.

But the wording of this press release, which mirrors that of every Arab critic of Jewish human rights, proves that the EuroMed Human Rights Monitor is simply an Israel-bashing NGO run by Arabs with a "human rights" face. (In fact, the report they reference is not available in English or French as of this writing, but it is available in Arabic, indicating the language it is originally written in.)

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NYT parrots absurd, unverified accusations against the IDF

Look how traumatized he is

Yesterday I wrote that +972 Magazine had swallowed, without skepticism, an absurd story of a Gaza teenager, Ahmed Abu Raida, who accused the IDF of forcing him to search for and dig (!) tunnels for five days with hardly any food and without clothing.

Besides the obvious holes in the story, the more lurid details were clearly coaxed out of Abu Raida by the thoroughly discredited DCI-Palestine, a group that says outright that it will work overtime to smooth over any inconsistencies in the "testimonies" it prompts from Palestinian children. The same group has significantly  inflated numbers of children killed according to other Palestinian human rights groups, and it ignores cler evidence of children acting as militants that are noted by these other groups. Moreover, it creates statistics based on the coaxed testimony it elicits, claiming that an impossible 75% of children detained by the IDF are tortured.

Today, Jodi Rudoren and Fares Akram in The New York Times published the story with the same lack of skepticism as the Zionism-hating +972mag.

Not only that, but the NYT didn't even discount the additional details that further prove that this story is fantasy for any real reporter:

His assertions, of actions that would violate both international law and a 2005 Israeli Supreme Court ruling, could not be independently corroborated; Ahmed’s father, Jamal Abu Raida, who held a senior position in Gaza’s Tourism Ministry under the Hamas-controlled government, said the family forgot to take photographs documenting any abuse in its happiness over the youth’s return, and disposed of the clothing he was given upon his release.

Seriously? His father is a Hamas official and "forgot" to photograph the alleged bruises or to keep the alleged ill-fitting IDF clothes as evidence - a goldmine of anti-Israel material?

The NYT notes that the story first surfaced in a report from the equally one-sided Euro-Mid Observer, an organization that works closely with DCI in fabricating facts and statistics.

But there are significant differences between the initial report from Euro-Mid and the later, more lurid report from DCI-P:

On July 23, 17-year-old Ahmad Jamal Abu Reeda, says he was restrained by Israeli troops who threatened to kill him. After harshly interrogating and beating him, the troops ordered Abu Reeda to walk ahead of them at gun point, accompanied by police dogs, as they searched houses and other buildings. Several times, they demanded that he dig in places they suspected tunnels to exist. Abu Reeda was forced to remain with the Israeli forces for five days.

In this report, Abu Raida claims that he accompanied IDF troops while they searched for tunnels, a week later he is claiming that they sent him inside by himself to search for tunnels - because, of course, the IDF would trust a 16-year old son of a Hamas official to accurately pinpoint and report back on hidden tunnels in houses in the middle of a war zone.

The New York TImes didn't note the inconsistencies. The New York Times didn't research the record of lies and subterfuuge from DCI-P and Euro-Mid Observer. Instead of researching the history of those two groups, The New York TImes pretended that only the IDF finds DCI-P to be unreliable, making it a case of "he said, she said" instead of verifying easily found facts as real journalists would. The New York Times didn't think that the complete absence of corroborating evidence from the family was enough to cast doubt on the story, writing it as if the coaxed testimony had credibility.

To be sure, the NYT pretended to be even-handed, asking the IDF to respond and not getting an answer. But given the known biases and history of flat-out lies from DCI-P and Euro-Mid Observer, Jodi Rudoren and Fares Akram went the lazy route.

Let's be clear: quoting anti-Israel propaganda organizations that masquerade as "human rights" organizations is not reporting. It is recycling propaganda. And they rely on an interview with a teenager whose own testimony is not only ridiculous on the face of it, but self-contradictory (besides the "searching for tunnels" accusation, DCI-P claimed that he was threatened sexually, one of their favorite accusations, but Abu Raida did not say that to the interviewer in two lengthy interviews.)

Real journalists would be more than skeptical with over-the-top claims that have no independent corroboration whatsoever. Certainly a real journalist wouldn't headline a story based on such meager evidence. And real journalists would know that even Amnesty International admits that Palestinian Arab testimony is often suspect.

But lazy journalists, and journalists with an agenda, are a whole different breed. Instead of ignoring or abandoning a story that has little credibility, they decide to go ahead and use little caveats to cover their behinds, caveats that the average reader will discount because the story is written in a way to give credence to the incredible.

(h/t YMedad, PreOccupied Territory, EBoZ)

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How NGO's make up lies about Israel

We've looked before at the Euro-Mid Observer, a Geneva-based organization that has no compunction about lying about Israel in order to push its agenda.

• We've seen that one of its members openly celebrated a Hamas murderer.
• We've seen them write a report blaming Israel for Gaza men beating their wives.
• In the same report, they falsely claim that Israel limits medical equipment to Gaza.
• We've seen them count Gaza terrorists as "children" who were killed in Gaza.

Clearly, Euro-Mid Observer is not too interested in truthful reporting.

They just released a new report with this graphical summary:

Let's look first at the cartoon. Notice that the word "Israel" on the soldier's jacket is backwards. The original cartoon was a mirror image. Why did they flip the cartoon?

The cartoon is one of Latuff's most famous antisemitic cartoons, which is meant to  evoke the famous photo of a Jewish child being arrested by Nazis (although edited to take out the dish and fork):

Euro-Mid is using an antisemitic cartoon to illustrate their anti-Israel report! But since the original cartoon is so obviously a product of a sick Jew-hating mind, they were considerate enough to flip it so as to not be so explicitly antisemitic.

Let's look at one of the statistics, that 75% of Palestinian Arab children detained by Israeli forces are supposedly tortured. Going through the report, they do not give a source for this statistic: they merely say that "International humanitarian agencies have documented that 75 percent of Palestinian children 
detained by Israeli forces are subjected to treatment that meets the definition of torture."

What agencies might these be?

It turns out that the main source for this  statistic is another rabidly anti-Israel NGO, called DCI-Palestine. We have looked at them before, too - they lied about the number of children killed in Operation Cast Lead, and they consistently report kids killed by Palestinian Arab rockets as being killed by Israel.  DCI-Palestine openly admits that it "develops its programs and acts according to Palestinian children's needs and Palestinian priorities."

In other words, its objectivity is zero.

DCI-Palestine describes its methodology here:

Initial identification of potential human rights violations

Al Mezan and DCI-Palestine identify potential violations through two main avenues: victims’ reports and field monitoring. Al Mezan is a well-known Gaza-based human rights organisation in operation since 1999 and victims of human rights violations regularly contact one of Al Mezan’s three offices located across the Gaza Strip for assistance; in addition, Al Mezan’s five experienced fieldworkers based throughout the Gaza Strip use their strong community links to identify potential cases of human rights violations. Similarly, DCI-Palestine receives reports from children and parents in any of its four West Bank offices and through Gaza-based fieldworkers; however, most investigations are initiated following ongoing and proactive field monitoring from nine fieldworkers across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

This means that the way DCI (and Al-Mezan) work is that every case of "torture" that they document is either self-reported or they go out of their way to find them. And if there are inconsistencies, what do they do?

Fieldworkers frequently go back to the source in order to verify details and correct any data inconsistency.

An organization that admits up front that it is biased says that rather than discard any inconsistent testimony as being unreliable, they go back and massage the reports until they fit together better with the other facts!

This is a fancy way of admitting that they coax the "witnesses" to lie, or at the very least to shade the truth until they fit the agendas of the Israel-hating NGOs.

The 75% statistic (actually, in 2013 the number increased to 76.5%) comes from "affidavits" that DCI-Palestine coaxes "victims" to give, and then coaxes "eyewitnesses" to corroborate in turn. They pretty much say this explicitly. There is nothing scientific about their methods, the "victims" are all but handpicked for their fanciful stories, not chosen according to any objective criteria of children detained. A real statistician would cringe at this methodology.

So DCI-Palestine coaxed about 100 Palestinian Arab kids to say what they wanted them to say. Then they published a statistic saying that about 75% of the kids they interviewed - not all the kids, but the ones they handpicked - claim that they are tortured.

Euro-Mid Observer runs with that statistic as if it has any validity, and expands it to the (unverified) number of Palestinian Arab kids who are supposedly detained, to claim that Israel physically tortures thousands of Palestinian Arab kids a year.

It is a lie built on top of previous lies, but they are lies that no journalist bother to follow back to the source. I fully expect there to be articles today about this report without the slightest bit of skepticism.

Now that we know the methods that these NGOs use, how valid is the statistic that "95% of children are forced to admit to charges they did not commit"? Or any of the other bogus statistics mentioned?

Given the published methodology and the knowledge that Palestinian Arabs often lie to NGOs, and knowing that DCI-Palestine and Euro-Mid are anything but unbiased, the only conclusion is that every single statistic in this paper is not only suspect but can be assumed to be knowingly false. 

The idea that Euro-Mid Observer, or DCI-Palestine, or Al Mezan, or PCHR,  any of dozens of other biased anti-Israel NGOs can produce verifiable facts, is a joke.

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European NGO blames Israel for Gaza men beating, abusing their wives

The Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights has released a laughably biased and inaccurate report about the situation of women in Gaza.

As we have seen before, anti-Israel NGOs like to use any hook they can find to blame Israel and only Israel. The Goldstone Report said no less than eight times that Israel, by attacking Gaza in response to Hamas rockets, was violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which is beyond absurd.

This report by Euro-Mid shows the same type of bias, specifically using the issue of women's rights - something Hamas is not exactly known for - as an excuse to condemn Israel.

Some lowlights:

Access to services in Gaza has been significantly curtailed by the 7 years long Israeli blockade. The ban on the private sector to import construction materials, medical equipment, and machinery impacts every aspect of life in Gaza, which is already highly affected by the frequent Israeli military operations.

There are no Israeli restrictions on medical equipment into Gaza outside of some paperwork. Even anti-Israel groups admit this. Euro-Mid is lying.

Frequent Israeli military attacks have left a large number of women in Gaza on their own to raise their families. Pal-Think for Strategic Studies estimates that in just the aftermath of the 23-day Israeli military operation called “Cast Lead” in 2008-2009, more than 800 new widows were created. These widows suffer from insecure incomes and constant feelings of threat and insecurity, high levels of anxiety and concern about lack of access to education and other services for them and their children.

Given that over 700 of those killed in Cast Lead were terrorists, this means that Euro-Mid is blaming Israel for defending itself because killing terrorists creates widows!

Such stresses increasingly contribute to tension within the family, with 90 per cent of the women describing the blockade and frequent Israeli military attacks as directly triggering higher levels of nervousness, tension and anxiety. A result of these growing tensions is a rise in the divorce rate (perceived as increasing by 24.6 per cent of the interviewees) and violence against women and girls. More than half (58.9 per cent) of the women in the study said they believe domestic violence is a growing problem in Gaza, and an even larger proportion (61.3 per cent) think their children are more at risk. An earlier survey (2011) by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics corroborated the women’s concerns. It found that approximately 37 per cent of Palestinian women in both the West Bank and Gaza had experienced physical or sexual abuse by their husbands in the previous 12 months. A larger 51 per cent in Gaza reported violence within the household directed against at least one member (including children).

Yes, when a Gaza man beats or sexually abuses his wife, he is blameless - it is all Israel's fault!

I'm surprised that Euro-Mid doesn't take this to the next logical step - since Israel's existence is an affront to the Arab world by existing and thriving, it is causing more rape and wife beatings than would occur if Israel would be destroyed. Maybe next year they can put this in their report. (Just give me a hat tip, okay?)

Pregnant women are particularly at risk. A report on the “Situation of and Assistance to Palestinian Women,” produced in December 2012 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council’s Commission on the Status of Women, estimates that 45 per cent of pregnant women in the Gaza Strip suffer from anemia.

Additionally, a June 2012 joint report by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and Save the Children notes that anemia affects 36.8 percent of pregnant women in Gaza and that anemia can result in “poor pregnancy outcome, reduced work 9 productivity in adults,” and “contributes to 20 percent of all maternal deaths.”

And how does that compare to women throughout the world? Well, according to WHO, about 42% of pregnant women worldwide are anemic.

To prevent anemia, women should take pre-natal vitamins including iron. There are no restrictions on such vitamins in Gaza from Israel. But who gets blamed?

Of course, the report must mention the fuel shortages in Gaza:

The latest crisis in Gaza was triggered on June 30, when the Egyptian military halted all but a trickle of traffic into and out of Gaza, adding more agony to the already crippling blockade imposed by Israel since 2007. The Egyptian actions have created an acute shortage of fuel, construction materials and a variety of essential medicines within Gaza.

On November 1, Gaza’s power plant ran out of fuel, causing power outages averaging 16 hours a day, paralyzing all facets of daily life in the Gaza Strip from families maintaining their incomes to hospitals running properly.

Yet do the recommendations mention Egypt or Hamas or anything else to alleviate the problems in Gaza? Well, why should it?

The recommendation given:

The only answer to the suffering of the people of Gaza, including its neglected women, is for the international community to hold Israel accountable and force it to lift the blockade, allowing the Palestinian society to evolve and develop in a healthy way and grant Palestinians their right to gradually heal from this injustice.

This report, like many of the other reports by NGOs working in the Middle East, is little more than an excuse to blame Israel for everything (and to justify receiving grants from governments so "researchers" can keep churning out more biased reports like these.)

One more thing: this report does not mention Hamas or the PA once, even though their hate for each other are the major reason for any lack of medicines, medical equipment and fuel in Gaza today.

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"Euro-Mid" NGO fabricates data, counts Hamas terrorists as "children" killed in Gaza

The Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights, a Geneva-based NGO, has released a 72-page report (Arabic-only) detailing the names, photos and details of 41 children they claim were killed in Gaza by Israel.

Some of the "children" listed were, in fact, adults.

Some were Hamas terrorists.

And at least one was killed by a Hamas rocket.

Here are some details:

Muhammad Hani Ibrahim Hani Al-Kaseeh was - according to Euro-Mid! - born on July 29, 1994, making him 18 years old when he was killed on November 14, 2012. PCHR admits that he was a terrorist, as the motorcycle he was on together with Essam al-Meiza was targeted.

Ahmed Taqfiq al-Nassasra was identified as a member of Hamas by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terror Information Center. He was 17.

Muhammad Kamel Salame Abu Udwan was born in March of 1994, making him 18 years old. I could not find him in the known lists of people killed.

Abdallah Tal'at Ahmad Ibrahim was also born in March 1994, making him 18 years old as well. I could not find him either.

Ouda Arafat al-Shindi was 17 years old, according to Euro-Mid. PCHR notes that he was a terrorist, but does not mention his age.

And Mahmoud Sadallah, 4,  was killed by a Hamas rocket, a fact admitted even by HRW.

These are only the ones I could identify. But it shows a pattern.

These are not simply mistakes. The inclusion of all these names in this glossy, professional report is meant to serve only one purpose - to demonize Israel as much as possible. Very few people would question a report that looks as slick as this one does, replete with photos of the dead, and even fewer would bother doing research to see if it is accurate. The prestigious-sounding name of the NGO, its Geneva address, and the trappings of professionalism, together with an audience that is already predisposed to believe the worst of Israel, together creates a culture where anti-Israel "researchers" can lie with impunity and with little worry about being exposed.

The NGO itself is more than sketchy. I could not find out the sources of funding for the Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights, and its webpage doesn't even list the names of its founders or leaders. A press release mentions Dr. Ramy Abdu as the chairman of its board of directors, and he is also the head of the Council for European Palestinian Relations, which exists purely to pressure Europe to pressure Israel. The Twitter account of  Euro-Mid says explicitly that the purpose of this report is to kick off an international campaign against Israel.

In any sane world, finding out that an NGO is purposefully fabricating its data should be enough to get it disbanded, to get its donors to cut off all funding, and to force the leaders to answer for their lies. But we don't live in a sane world.. Anti-Israel NGOs will continue to proliferate and attract attention with lying reports that convince those who want to be convinced.

(h/t Al Gharqad and CHA)

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