Radical NGOs

Introduction
Both International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) are radical NGOs whose agenda includes demonizing Israel as an ‘apartheid’ state and questioning the very existence of a Jewish state itself. Their plan to ‘break the Gaza blockade’ is a PR stunt designed to embarrass Israel and to promote their extreme ideas. ISM planned exactly the same event last year to ‘free Gaza’ but in the end it was cancelled, due to ‘funding, logistics, weather and other factors’. There is a chance that this year’s event will also fail to take place. Should this event actually happen, we hope that serious journalists will recognize it as nothing more than an elaborate publicity stunt and show minimal interest. However, should it attract media attention, the following points are useful to illustrate that far from being genuine humanitarian organizations, both ISM and ICAHD are extreme and irresponsible politicized groups:

International Solidarity Movement (ISM)
· ISM describes itself as “a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles”. Although ISM does not have a hierarchy with recognized leaders, it is a highly political organization.
· Although ISM claims to engage in ‘non violent’ action, acting as ‘protection’ for Palestinians, they encourage activists to take ‘direct action’, which often places them in danger, directly confronting the IDF.
· ISM has been responsible for endangering the safety of many foreign nationals, including placing both American citizen Rachel Corrie and UK citizen Tom Hurndall, in mortal danger. Both were killed by the IDF while participating in ISM activities.
· ISM regularly engages in direct confrontation with the IDF, irresponsibly endangering the lives of Palestinians and foreign activists. Most recently, they have been involved in the violent protests against the security barrier at Ni’lin.
· ISM attempted to help terrorists taking refuge in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002
· In 2003, ISM was used as a cover by terrorists, originating from UK, who attacked the Mike’s Place bar in Tel Aviv, murdering three people.



Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
· ICAHD also describes itself as a ‘non violent’, ‘direct action’ group. They describe themselves as having been “originally established to oppose and resist Israeli demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories…we expanded our resistance activities to other areas - land expropriation, settlement expansion, by-pass road construction, policies of ‘closure’ and ‘separation,’ the wholesale uprooting of fruit and olive trees and more”.
· In reality, ICAHD brutally manipulates the language of human rights to promote a radical political agenda.
· Although ICAHD receives significant funds from EU and the Spanish government, they consistently refer to Israel as an ‘apartheid’ state and supports boycotts of Israel.
· Jeff Halper, ICAHD’s Director rejects the 2 state solution which would mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state. Halper said in a paper given at the "United Nations International Conference on Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People" in New York in September, 2003, that "the stage is thus set for the next phase of the struggle for a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: an international campaign for a single state."
· Halper regularly speaks as the "Israeli" or "Jewish" presence at Sabeel Conference tours in the USA. Led by Naim Ateek, Sabeel is a Palestinian Christian NGO that leads Church divestment campaigns. Halper promotes his mantra of a "matrix of control" but makes unsubstantiated claims: at the United Nations Latin America and Caribbean Meeting on the Question of Palestine in Caracas on 13 December 2005, Halper claimed that “Ninety-five percent of the cases of house demolitions had nothing to do with security,” but provided no source or evidence.

Useful Media Messages
· Both ISM and ICAHD are radical politicized groups, not genuine humanitarian organizations.
· ISM in particular has a record of placing foreign nationals in unnecessary danger, sometimes resulting in their death. This latest stunt is another example of irresponsibly endangering the safety of civilians in order to promote their extreme agenda.
· ISM and ICAHD are clearly more concerned with self-promotion than welfare. There can be no other explanation for spending a huge amount of money on sailing two ships from Cyprus (last year’s event would have cost at least an estimated $300,000) rather than sending aid to Gaza through the correct Israeli channels.