Yesh Din

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Yesh Din
Type Non-profit
NGO
Founded 2005[1]
Headquarters
  • Tel-Aviv
Area served West Bank[1]
Focus(es) "the extent of Israel's implementation of its duty to protect the Palestinian civilians under its armed forces' occupation"[1]
Mission "work to uphold the rule of law in the occupied territories and monitor the Israeli law enforcement system in those territories"[1]
Method(s) reporting human rights abuses, legal actions, direct advocacy with the authorities and working with the media to encourage debate[1]
Website www.yesh-din.org

Yesh Din (Hebrew: יש דין‎) is an Israeli human rights group providing legal assistance to citizens of the Palestinian territories. Its name comes from a Hebrew phrase meaning "there is law". The group has been active since March 2005.

Public Council

Yesh Din's activities are overseen by its Public Council. Members include prominent former Israeli government officials and retired high-ranking generals of the Israel Defence Force (IDF):[2]

  • Shulamit Aloni - former Israeli minister of education and culture, minister of communications, minister of science and arts
  • Shlomo Lahat, General (Ret.) - former mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa
  • Michael Ben Yair - lawyer, former attorney general of the State of Israel.
  • Shlomo Gazit, General (Ret.) - former head of Military Intelligence
  • Paul Kedar, Colonel (Ret.) - former Israeli consul in New York; head of Ministry of Defense delegation to Europe; IDF attaché to Turkey. Member of Beyt Hatfusot founders; director of Shlomi's Community Center.

Activities

Yesh Din monitors the IDF investigations into troops' and Israeli settlers suspected crimes against Palestinians.[3]

Following the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, the group denounced the distribution of booklets which according to the group "bordered on incitement to racism", encouraging Israeli soldiers to fight an enemy described as "murderers" and advising them to "show no mercy". The distribution of the booklets caused IDF to reprimand one its officers, describing the case as an "isolated incident".[4]

On January 30, 2009, the Associated Press reported that Yesh Din planned to use a classified Israeli government database to prove that many West Bank Israeli settlements were built on land privately owned by Palestinian citizens without compensation.[5]

Funding

Yesh Din describes itself as being funded by "private individuals, from Israel and around the world" and institutional donors in the international donor community.[6] It regards itself as an independent, non-partisan organization and to maintain its independence it does not accept direct or indirect donations from Israeli or Palestinian government bodies.[1] In 2011 Yesh Din received a total of just over NIS 4.2 million from the following foreign institutional donors; Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations - IFA (Germany), Norwegian Refugee Council, European Commission, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Ireland), Oxfam Novib, Open Society Institute, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (United Kingdom), CAFOD and The Moriah Fund.[7]

Reception

NGO monitor has been critical of Yesh Din's activities.[8] Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, said Yesh Din supports "the Palestinian narrative. That Israel stole the land is the principle behind all this and that the occupation is the source of the conflict rather than the result. These positions make Palestinians feel they don't have to compromise."[9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "About". Yesh Din. 
  2. ↑ "Public Council". Yesh Din. 
  3. ↑ "IDF: Probes of suspected crimes against Palestinians up 36%". Haaretz. Associated press. December 27, 2007. Retrieved April 7, 2011. 
  4. ↑ "Israel 'no mercy' officer rebuked". BBC News. January 28, 2009. 
  5. ↑ Friedman, Matti (January 30, 2009). "Group: Settlement info implicates Israeli gov't". Associated Press. 
  6. ↑ "Our Supporters". Yesh Din. 
  7. ↑ "Donations from Foreign Countries 2011". Yesh Din. 
  8. ↑ "NGO Monitor slams Belgium funds for ‘anti-Israel’ group". The Jerusalem Post. 14 August 2011. 
  9. ↑ Ben Lynfield (17 May 2012). "Interview: Michael Sfard, the Israeli lawyer battling illegal settlements". The Christian Science Monitor. 

External links

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