Israel’s false claims about World Vision

The Israeli government has charged Mr. Mohammed El Halabi, the Gazan representative of the Christian Charity World Vision, with funnelling up to $50 million over six years to Hamas, the fundamentalist group which governs the Gaza Strip.

Tim Costello, the Director of World Vision, says that even the figures mentioned are implausible. World Vision is estimated to give Gaza approximately $3 million per year so how does an estimated $18 million over six years suddenly become $50 million ?  

Who else cares as long as it is the Israeli government and its allies who make such claims ? 

Courage in short supply

Mr.El Halibi has been held in jail for 25 days without being charged, without being able to see members of his family, a lawyer or a representative of his employer. Despite such abuses of basic human rights, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade can’t find the courage to insist that no-one can be considered guilty until proven otherwise. Instead it reacts, as it almost always does, by bending to Israel and immediately suspending aid to the Gaza Strip and to the West Bank.

For many reasons, Australian authorities should never automatically accept an Israeli government’s claims. But to resist Israel and their powerful - Zionist oriented- lobby groups, courage is required. The trouble is, that quality is so often in short supply.

It is not difficult to defend World Vision, Mr. El Halabi, the people of Gaza and of the West Bank.

There has been a concerted campaign against the Australian Charity.El Halibi’s imprisonment  is an outcome of a series of falsehoods and other injustices.

The Tel Aviv law firm Shurat HaDin (SHD), often described as a lawfare agency and advised by Prime Minister Netanyahu, is a key part of that campaign. For years it has been saying that World Vision funds are used to promote terrorism.

SHD, an organization with financial power and political influence, is preoccupied with bullying and prosecuting anyone who advocates justice for the Palestinians. I should know. A couple of years ago Shurat HaDin threatened me and my colleague Jake Lynch with charges that we were racist and therefore anti-Semitic. They did not proceed with action against me but for six months maintained a prosecution of Dr Lynch in an Australian Federal Court. The judge ruled against Shurat HaDin on every count. That did not hinder this organization’s  commitment to demonizing those who support the besieged people of Gaza and to file baseless lawsuits against them.   

The catch-all label "terrorism"

Ali Abuminah, the distinguished, US based, editor of the online journal Electronic Intifada shows that Shurat HaDin is a proxy for Israel’s spying and assassination agency Mossad and has for years been trying to undermine the work of World Vision. To generate fear, harness anti-terrorist groups and energize the mainstream media, a key technique is to throw around the catch-all word ‘terrorism’.  

Abunimah records that Dore Gold, the Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry claims that all humanitarian aid to Gaza amounts to support for terrorism.  He also says that the Israeli news websiteYnet has referred to Israeli government instructions to their diplomats to smear World Vision especially among Christian communities around the world.

Collective punishment forever?

The controversy surrounding World Vision and the arrest of their manager in Gaza should be seen in the context of efforts to label all the people of Gaza as synonymous with the fundamentalist group which rules them.  Maintaining the siege of almost two million people, half of whom are children, is not the only collective punishment imposed by Israel and its allies. Cancellation of aid is another form of cruelty and is unlikely to end.

Abuninmah says it is ominous that the intelligence agency Shin Bet which has imprisoned Mr. El Halibi, has warned that World Vision is likely to be the only the first of many humanitarian organizations and even UN agencies targeted by allegations that they support terrorism. 

Ever since the massacre of over 2000 Gazans in 2014, including at least 500 children, world public opinion has been swinging in favour of Palestinians’ calls for peace with justice. To resist this trend, Israel uses every means to gain victories in the war of public opinion – by dramatizing Israeli virtues, by demonising Palestine’s supporters, by throwing mud against all Gazans and hoping that it sticks.  

Forewarned should mean forearmed. Even if Tim Costello and his colleagues can show that the charges against Mohammed El Halibi are trumped up, Israel will not end the siege of Gaza or the occupation of Palestinian lands.

This World Vision controversy provides another opportunity for Australian politicians to show the courage of their convictions about human rights, to demonstrate their commitment to the rules of international law and to a common humanity. They can do so by defending World Vision, by insisting on the rights of Mohammed El Habibi and by insisting on the continuation of aid to the people of Gaza and the West Bank.