PRESS RELEASE
June 14, 2012
Contact:
Jason Edelstein
NGO Monitor
+972-52-861-2129
mail@ngo-monitor.org
www.ngo-monitor.org

NGO Monitor Statement on NGOs' Demand to End Blockade

JERUSALEM - In response to 50 NGOs and UN agencies calling on Israel to end
its blockade, NGO Monitor today released the following statement:

"This statement continues the immoral exploitation of universal human rights
for political objectives," says Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO
Monitor. "These NGOs and UN agencies use the façade of human rights and
humanitarian aid while callously ignoring indiscriminate rocket attacks
against Israeli civilians - everyone one of which is a war crime. They
should be using their resources to end the massive smuggling of weapons into
Gaza, rather than targeting Israel."

"The members of the UN Secretary General's Palmer Committee and other legal
experts have declared that Israel's blockade is legal under international
law. In contrast, this and many other NGO statements have no legal validity,
and are simply part of the anti-Israel campaign launched in 2001 at the
infamous NGO Forum of the Durban conference. The NGOs are promoting war and
destroying the moral basis of human rights."

Steinberg adds: "European governments inexplicably fund many of the NGOs
that signed this statement, including Amnesty, Cordaid (Holland), Christian
Aid (UK), Diakonia (Sweden), Oxfam, and echo their political slogans. This
highlights the urgent need for reform in European funding for these
organizations."

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