Dear friends,

For years, HaMoked operated under the radar assisting thousands of Palestinians without attracting too much attention. Those days are long gone. Now HaMoked is the subject of an ugly attack from ultranationalist groups allied with this extremist government.

Will you support HaMoked?

Recently Channel 14 News (Israel’s version of Fox News) aired an “exposé” against the organization, with hidden cameras “revealing” that HaMoked challenges punitive home demolitions, and demands that Israel respect the basic rights of prisoners, even those convicted of violent attacks. This work to defend basic human rights was framed as support for terrorism.

Immediately an ultranationalist Knesset lobby convened to “demand that HaMoked be shut down”. Members of Knesset and a cabinet minister wrote to Ambassadors of countries that provide support to HaMoked, demanding they stop funding us. All of these attacks were fodder for a broader attack on the human rights community, with these same Members of Knesset proposing a 65% tax on foreign government funding to the human rights community – a proposal that was frozen thanks to the very vocal opposition of Israel’s closest allies.

As I wrote recently in Ha’aretz, human rights organizations are like the canary in the coal mine, indicating the oxygen necessary for a healthy society. This government and its ultranationalist allies are working to restrict human rights organizations at the same time they advance proposals to undermine Israel’s judicial system. Both of these initiatives are intended to cripple any opposition to their broader agenda of advancing annexation and apartheid.

The ultranationalists have decided that the best way to stop the work of human rights organizations is to target funding from foreign governments. We are very grateful to European governments for their generous grants to HaMoked, and for their unmitigated support to HaMoked and the human rights community in the face of these attacks. (In the midst of the attacks, France’s Consul-General in Jerusalem awarded me the National Order of Merit. You can see remarks from the ceremony below). 

At the same time, we are taking steps to diversify HaMoked’s sources of funding. Private donations are crucial to ensure HaMoked’s financial sustainability and to demonstrate that individuals in Israel and around the world support our work.

What was most encouraging for me is that, throughout these ugly attacks, HaMoked’s staff continued their work undeterred, assisting dozens of Palestinians, individuals and families who called us this month for assistance: parents frantic after their son's arrest, farmers denied access to farmlands beyond the separation wall, Jerusalem families trying to get the permit necessary to live together without fear of deportation, and more.

We need your assistance to continue this work. I thank all of you who have already made donations.

Yours,

Jessica Montell
Executive Director of HaMoked