Left-wing Israeli nonprofits making the case that the International Criminal Court is justified in launching a probe into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories have benefited from significant funding from foreign governments, NGO Monitor reported Monday.
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NGO Monitor, a watchdog group seeking to promote accountability and transparency in nongovernmental organizations operations, claims that 35 Israeli organizations known for advocating anti-Israeli policy or harshly criticizing the Israeli government have received upward of $100 million in foreign funds between 2017 and 2019; almost 60% of the money came from foreign governments.
One such NGO is B'Tselem, which made the controversial claim earlier this year that Israel was guilty of "apartheid." B'Tselem reports represented part of the basis for ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's legal argument for launching an investigation into Israel Defense Forces, even though Israel is not a member of ICC and does not accept its jurisdiction.
About half of B'Tselem's funding in 2017-2019, almost NIS 20 million ($6 million), came from European governments.
Overall, the single largest government donor was Germany, with a contribution of over NIS 43 million ($13 million) to various left-wing NGOs, followed by the European Union and the Netherlands.
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One of the largest non-governmental donors was billionaire George Soros' Open Society Foundation.
Earlier this month, Israel condemned the ICC move as a "political decision," and an "act of moral and legal bankruptcy."
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
