Watchdog report: Major NGOs promoted anti-Israel narrative after Oct 7, used Gaza war for fundraising

A new watchdog focusing on international NGOs, EiGHT, released a report this week, which alleges that international human rights groups deliberately sought to manufacture an anti-Israeli narrative following Oct.7, exploited the situation in Gaza to raise funds, and dismissed staffers’ concerns about antisemitism.

The EiGHT report is based on interviews with approximately 70 current or former staff members from organizations including Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, and Amnesty International Australia. It was submitted to Australia’s Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, a government inquiry established in the wake of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.

According to the report, certain internal communications and workplace practices reflected a framing of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack within a broader narrative of Israeli responsibility.

One example cited states that on Oct. 7, a Human Rights Watch program director emailed staff suggesting the Hamas assault was linked to prior “escalation” by Israel, including “significant violence by Israeli soldiers and settlers.”

The report also claims that within Amnesty International, staff was encouraged to participate in anti-Zionist demonstrations, while being discouraged from attending rallies supporting Israeli hostages, reportedly on the basis that the organization is “against the Israeli government.”

On Oct. 10, 2023, a Human Rights Watch internal document reportedly identified one of the “main objectives” of its Middle East team as being to “influence the narrative — highlight the context of this latest round of hostilities (i.e., Apartheid etc.).”

The report also cites a Human Rights Watch internal meeting on Nov. 12, 2023, where staff said they had briefed “top-tier celebrities” and Hollywood agencies on how to portray the Israel-Hamas war.

The report further claims that Gaza became the central focus of NGO activity in part due to fundraising incentives. It found that staff at Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International described images of Palestinian suffering as particularly effective with donors and therefore prioritized in communications.

At Amnesty International Australia, one employee was quoted as saying Gaza functioned as a “particularly effective fundraising engine,” with seven out of 10 fundraising appeals from October 2023 onward focusing on Gaza.

Other staff members said there was internal pressure to maintain attention on the conflict. “During ceasefire periods, results declined, creating pressure to sustain a heightened sense of urgency,” staff were quoted as saying.

The report also alleges that concerns about antisemitism within NGOs were often minimized or reframed as “political disagreement.” A non-Jewish employee at Amnesty International Australia said that after the Bondi Beach massacre, efforts to address antisemitism were sometimes characterized internally as “attempts to restrict criticism of Israel.”

Jewish NGO staff members, according to the report, often felt their concerns were treated with suspicion.

One staff member said internal discussions rarely focused on investigating incidents directly, but instead became debates over definitions: “The conversation never becomes: ‘What happened, and why did this employee experience it as antisemitic?’ Instead, it immediately becomes: ‘But what is antisemitism really? What about Zionism? What about Gaza?’”

The report also described claims that some NGO leaders privately agreed with concerns raised by Jewish staff but refrained from acting due to “fear of appearing “pro-Israel.”

In cases where antisemitism was addressed, the report alleges it was sometimes paired with references to Islamophobia to diffuse the focus on Jews. Just weeks after Oct. 7, the UK director of Human Rights Watch reportedly wrote: “Can I just check that we are addressing Islamophobia in our product on antisemitism? It’s important in any product on antisemitism that we address both.”