Standing with Palestinian Human Rights Defenders

31 August 2022
Israeli Military Raids Office of Palestinian Human Rights Organization

Last month, the Israeli military raided the offices of seven leading Palestinian human rights organizations and ordered them to shut down. The raids come after the Israeli Ministry of Defense designated six of them to be “terrorist” organizations last October, without presenting substantial evidence to back up the claim.

Following the raids, the New Israel Fund launched a sign-on letter for supporters to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian civil society groups under attack. Since the letter launched Tuesday, over 750 people have added their names. There’s still time to add yours!

In an op-ed in The Forward calling out the Israeli military’s raid on the organizations, NIF CEO Daniel Sokatch said that this kind of attack on civil society “is, simply put, not what democracies do.” He added, “American Jews — and the Biden administration — must stand with” these organizations.

In addition to this letter and op-ed, 46 Israeli civil society organizations, including the New Israel Fund and many NIF grantees, published an ad in Haaretz “call[ing] on the international community to pressure Israel to revoke its decision.”