Shaun Sacks Has flown from Jerusalem to Stockholm to deliver a report to Swedish parliament accusing Swedish aid money of funding Jihad. (Listen to the conversation HERE!)
Shaun Sacks is senior researcher for NGO Monitor, a private research institute that monitors the funding and activities of NGOs involved in the human rights sector related to the Israel conflict. “NGOs are non-governmental organizations involved in various activities such as caring for stray animals, distributing food, lobbying for policies, and promoting human rights.”
Prominent examples include Human Rights Watch, Red Cross, Doctors Without borders, and Amnesty International. NGO Monitor was founded by professor Gerald Steinberg after the United Nations conference against racism in Durban 2001. “It was the height of the Second Intifada against Israel. Where Israel faced daily suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks. And rather than become a force of positive change, this NGO forum at the Human Rights Congress in Durban turned into an anti Israel hate fest.”
The US and Israeli delegations walked out of the conference to demonstrate their disgust. The South African Jews who were there were ostracized and kicked out.
”There were posters saying that if Hitler had won the war, there’d be no more Palestinian suffering. It was blatant anti semitism. Many other countries left because of what was going on there. Professor Gerald Steinberg, our founder saw what was going on, and in addition to the absolute malice that was being shown to Israel and to the Jewish people, the question on his mind was, how could these noble organizations with names like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and Rabbis for Human Rights, go along with this?”
NGO Monitor researches the funding and activities of all NGOs, but particularly those involved in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. “Many NGOs involved in the Israel-Palestinian conflict are primarily funded by foreign governments. In particular, they receive a large amount of their budgets from the Swedish government.”
Among other things Sweden is one of UNRWAs largest donors. Per capita swedes pay more than any other country in the world to this UN outfit that only services the grandchildren and great grandchildren of Arab refugees from the former British Mandate of Palestine. Shaun Sacks is in Sweden to present an NGO Monitor report to parliament on where Swedish contributions to NGOs from SIDA has gone. The report levels serious allegations against the work that SIDA funds. “Let’s start by putting some facts on the table. I’d mentioned very early on that Europe saw itself as a powerhouse of human rights and Sweden would be seen as the apex of that.”
Sweden was the first country to proclaim itself a ”humanitarian Great power” based on its ”neutrality” in the Second World War. Since then it has stockpiled such heights of moral standards, that those standards over time have more than doubled. Which is why Sweden has proclaimed itself a moral superpower.
Shaun explains that even if this comes from a noble place it ”hasn’t had the desired effect”. Swedish funds, which officially is supposed to foster preconditions for a just and lasting peace based on a negotiated two-state solution, has been perverted and misappropriated by ideology to instead lay the groundwork for the October 7 massacres. And the ceaseless assault on Israel since. In all arenas, not just militarily. “we’ve noticed that these organizations don’t they have the same noble goals as the Swedish government and previous Swedish governments, but they also maintain an extreme agenda. Very often this agenda means the eradication of Israel and sometimes crosses the borders into anti semitism as well as encourages militancy. All of these things are the complete antithesis of what Sweden means to fund and support.”
At the same time as “the terrible things that happened to Israelis on October 7th, from sexual violence to the murder of a thousand people, to desecrating of bodies, to burning, raping, and torture” horrified the world these human rights organizations ”reacted very differently. They didn’t express shock or horror or disgust. No criticism of what was done by Hamas. Most of them were completely silent. Some organizations justified what was done, but the majority of Swedish funded organizations took October 7th as an opportunity to ramp up their anti-Israel activities.”
S I D A, the Swedish International Development Agency, has a number of different funding programs that gives money to NGOs, human rights groups in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority. “SIDA’s main human rights program, which gives 140 million Swedish crowns to a number of organizations, both Israeli and Palestinians for human rights.”
Shaun explains that as a starting point any organization that receives aid should support a two state solution. “But they don’t. Many of them are very clear about the fact that they don’t want a two state solution.”
Secondly he thinks Sweden shouldn’t support organizations that promote violence. The Swedish government ordered an investigation into the SIDA money going to Palestine after October 7th. “According to SIDA, SIDA’s investigation of SIDA said that SIDA did nothing wrong. In fact, SIDA’s investigation of SIDA said that SIDA did everything right, and they should continue funding everything they’ve done in the past. So we looked not only at the SIDA investigation, we looked at the organisations that SIDA investigated, and we didn’t use any major investigation techniques. We didn’t use any spyware. All we did was we looked at these organisations. At their websites. At the Facebook accounts of the people who work there in leadership positions. The Twitter accounts of the organisations and accounts of people who work there. And we looked at interviews given by these organisations and the people that work there.”
NGO Monitor used only Open sources. “Information that should have been available to the SIDA investigators themselves.” And they found mong other things that “BADIL Center for Human Rights#, a Palestinian organization based in Ramallah “even before October 7th made a point of saying their final goal is a ’de-Zionised single state of Palestine’. So just starting with that, this organization at the outset says they don’t agree with Swedish policy but will still take Swedish money. And they’re very open about it. In fact, it’s all over the documentation that they produce, that this is what their ultimate goal is.”
On BADIL’s website the 9th of October 2023, two days after the massacre in Israel, was posted a picture of two Palestinian men standing on a destroyed Israeli tank. And underneath it says, “what did we learn? The resilience of Palestine and Gaza is phenomenal. And their continued resistance is effective and capable of achieving victory.” BADIL also supports “armed struggle”. “I’m frankly a little surprised SIDA didn’t, either see this, or seeing it thinking it was of no concern because the document very clearly expresses support for armed resistance.”
SIDA also sends money to another organization called al-Haq. “Al Haq is run by a man by the name of Shawan Jabarin, who was a recruiter for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist terrorist organization.” The PFLP is regarded as a terrorist organization by the European Union and since Sweden is a member that would be true in Sweden as well. “Al Haq again receives a large amount of money from SIDA for human rights work.”
Al Haq’s own documentation before October 7th speak about the fact that their goal is the end “of the Zionist project”. In August of last year they sent a proposal to the EU that Hamas should be taken off the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations. They also said that the Palestinian Authority should stop all negotiations with Israel. Al Haq has received SIDA money for decades.
“We looked at their activities after October 7th, and what we see is that Al Haq ramped up not only their revenue, lobbying, but they’re international activities. Al Haq has made it one of their goals, going back 10 years, to have Israelis, Israeli leaders and Israeli military leaders brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.”
Swedish tax money goes to international lawfare. Or in this case judicial Jihad.
“Al Haq’s Shawan Jabarin, was part of the South African delegation that brought Israel to the International Criminal Court of Justice in The Hague.”
Swedish tax payer money has contributed to the South African case against Israel in the ICJ and the ICC.
“Now here, we know by their own acknowledgement that the current prosecutor of the ICC, Karim Khan, in some of his documentation quotes al Haq allegations. His predecessor, Fatih bin Suda, who was the previous prosecutor for the ICC, met several times with Showan Jabarin.”
Organizations like BADIL and Al Haq produce materials, reports, and statements that is used by Israel’s enemies in international courts. And in, as well as by, the UN. The International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has announced that he’s seeking prosecution of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, for the crime of starvation. “That is the crime that they are being accused of. Now, when we look at Al Haq documentation, on October 9th, Al Haq put out a document warning about impending starvation and they began an international campaign warning that Israel is starving the population of Gaza on October 9th.” Before the first Israeli troops had even begun the ground operation into Gaza. “And this is done, without a doubt, with Swedish funding. Part of their funding is for advocacy and for legal activities.”
Yet another organization funded with Swedish money is called the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. “It’s run by a man by the name of Raji Sourani. Raji Sourani has been praised for his activities by the PFLP terrorist organization. Again, nothing is hidden here.” Their money doesn’t come directly from SIDA but is funneled via Save the Children Sweden. An NGO that runs projects in the Palestinian Authority.”
What Shaun found on their website states clearly that “the bottom line actually says, I’m going to read this out to you because when we first read it, we couldn’t believe it. ‘By all means, including armed struggle,’ “
Raji Sourani, the head of this organization, also sat next to the South African delegation at the ICJ and ICC. “He was also part of the international legal front against Israel at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.”
Technically when SIDA says that they can’t find any Hamas connections in their NGOs they’re telling the truth because they’re not saying anything about PFLP. Almost.
“Hamas put together what they call the joint control room, which is run by Hamas, but included the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, included the PFLP and a number of other smaller groups.” PFLP operatives were involved in some of the attacks on October 7th, rocket attacks, attacks on soldiers, murders in kibbutzim. “PFLP was very proud of their participation in that. And I don’t understand how that was overlooked. All these organizations were there. All of them were involved.”
On October 9th, BADIL tweeted, “impunity and double standards are no longer acceptable in pursuit for their liberation. The Palestinian people have an equal right to resist.” Al Haq’s head of training and capacity tweeted: “It is written in the hadith, you must wage jihad. The best jihad is preparing for war, and it is best to prepare for war in Ashkelon.” Ashkelon is an Israeli city within the 1967 borders. Al Haq’s legal officer Aseel Al Bajek tweeted “Get out of our land. Get out of our faces. It’s just that”
“We didn’t have to look for them, SIDA should have found them. They are public. Anybody can look at them.” Shaun says.
The second part of the report accuses Swedish funded NGOs of spearheading genocide accusations against Israel.
“As I mentioned before, both of these SIDA funded organizations were part of the South African legal team. Starting from October 7th already, these NGOs began a concerted effort to say that Israel is guilty of genocide. And this was done purposefully to defeat Israel by removing Israel’s legal right to defend themselves physically, with weapons.”
Before South African president Cyril Ramaphosa of the ANC announced the legal case against Israel at a press conference in Qatar (the country that funds and hosts Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood) he had meetings with representatives from both Hamas and Iran (Hamas other patron). Al-Haq and BADIL want to make sure international legal structures are turned on Israel.
“And so the minute we began seeing things like tens of thousands people killed, again, numbers that were completely fake and made up, not only the NGO world, but the broader human rights world, funded by SIDA, adopted this narrative of Israel killing tens of thousands of people in indiscriminate bombings and even sexual violence and some, some cases that things that were completely made up against Israel.”
Normally we Swedes don’t see our tax money at work. Some will almost certainly be glad to see them put to this use. The day after our interview Shaun will be informing the appropriate committee of the Swedish parliament of his findings. After that Swedish parliamentarians should be considered informed.
LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION HERE!
