Exposing anti-Israel political activities of German NGO Medico Int'l and BtS

"The German Foreign Ministry – as with other European foreign ministries – should more closely monitor and evaluate how its funding to various NGOs is actually utilized. Groups that receive Foreign Ministry funding should not utilize it in a manner that contradicts the official policies of the government or contradicts the NGOs’ own stated mission and principles."

Source: Jerusalem Post (German NGO Medico International funded Breaking the Silence book presentation in Ramallah where Israeli audiences cannot attend)

BERLIN – Controversy is swirling around the German NGO Medico International for its financial support of the Israel-based NGO Breaking the Silence, including its support for a planned – but subsequently canceled – book presentation on Tuesday in Ramallah.

Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the president of the Jerusalem-based human rights watchdog organization, NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post before the cancellation that, “This specific event in Ramallah – funded by a German NGO – highlights Breaking the Silence’s facade. The organization presents itself as a grassroots NGO, directed towards Israeli audiences, but many of its events take place outside of Israel, using funding from European governments and the New Israel Fund.

RELATED:New provocative photos of IDF soldiers on Facebook 
Israel targets foreign gov't NGO funds 


Even the name itself is misleading – there is rigorous debate in Israel about IDF actions, and there certainly is no ‘silence’ about Israel to break in Ramallah.”

Medico International, a health-services provider, was listed as a sponsor of Breaking the Silence’s book presentation, according to a posting on the website of the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA).

The AIDA website notice read: “Medico International has been a partner of Breaking the Silence since 2009, and we would be honored if you can come to the book presentation.”

European parliament celebrating Hamas friend Vittorio Arrigoni

Vittorio Arrigoni was the Italian "pacifist" who was murdered by his Palestinian friends in the Gaza strip.  He loved Hamas and hated Zionists (or Jews?) and called them "rats".  Now the European parliament is celebrating the man and the "peace" flotillas.  No wonder Europeans are discontented with the EU.  See: The murder of a European 'pacifist' who hated Israel.

The Free Gaza movement is a human rights group that, since August 2008, has travelled nine times to Gaza by sea to break Israel's illegal stranglehold on the 1.5 million Palestinians that live there. On 31 May 2010, in a lethal attack against the Freedom Flotilla, nine people were killed and many more injured by Israeli commandos. The FREEDOM FLOTILLA – STAY HUMAN is the next  flotilla of boats that will be sail to Gaza to break the siege.

They are named in memory of Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian activist and volunteer who was murdered on 14 April 2011 in the Gaza Strip. HEARING

GUE/NGL press contact :
Gianfranco Battistini + 32 475646628

For more on Arrigoni click here (Elder of Ziyon):

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=004212307780651616265%3Ad87yif98dry&ie=UTF-8&q=arrigoni&sa=Search&siteurl=elderofziyon.blogspot.com%2F

(H/T C.F.)

Triodos Bank boycotts Dexia Bank for involvement in Israel

Triodos Bank is a European self-styled ethical bank .  It has decided to exclude Dexia Bank (read boycott) for involvement in Israel.  Search the Triodos site for boycotting for excluding Saudi Arabia for human rights violations and predicatably the return is nil ...  Triodos writes that Dexia is a Belgian bank.  In fact, and Triodos knows it full well, Dexia is a French-Belgian bank, but the extremely violent pro-boycott campaign comes from Belgium and is tainted with antisemitc tones, like the European multisecular blood libel accusations.  As revealed by this blog and NGO Monitor : Pro-divestment rally attended by NIF, EU grantees turns to antisemitism : "The event featured an antisemitic episode, when one rally leader drank fake blood out of a wine glass – an apparent reference to the libel of Jews drinking Christian blood as wine – to highlight Israel’s alleged brutality.  The target of the rally was Dexia, a bank with an Israeli subsidiary. The use of the ugly blood libel motif – codified as antisemitic by Europe’s rights monitoring agency – raises important questions about the relationship between the BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) Movement and antisemitism."

Brussels: demonstration against Israeli blood drinkers - blood libel revisited

Triodos Bank announcement: Dexia excluded for involvement in Israel

Belgian bank Dexia has been excluded from the Triodos sustainable investment universe because of its ongoing financing of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Dexia in Israel
Dexia Israel Bank (DIB), a subsidiary of Dexia, has financed Israeli settlements in the past. In response to shareholder and stakeholder pressure, DIB stopped new loans to Israeli settlements in June 2008. There are also indications that current loans are being withdrawn, although the longest maturity loan in the portfolio will not end until 2017. DIB’s actions have caused uproar in Israel and a regional council major in southern Israel called for a DIB boycott.

Despite the freeze on new loans and withdrawal by DIB, the bank still has loans outstanding to the Municipality of Jerusalem. Jerusalem lies at the heart of the occupied territories and since 1967 East Jerusalem has been under Israeli government rule. Settlements have been established for Jewish Israeli occupants only and settlers receive substantial financial benefits, as well as access to land and natural resources in the disputed territory. By financing the municipality, DIB loans are potentially being used to finance human rights abuses against Palestinians in East Jerusalem.