For more than two decades, the “red-green alliance” between radical left and political Islam activists (“Islamists”) has been active in civil and public arenas in the West, including the legal arena. Therefore, it is not surprising to discover a great deal of its involvement in the lawsuit against Israel in The Hague, in part in the framework of human rights organizations. For example, three advisers to the prosecution are members of organizations affiliated with the circles of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP): Issam Younis from the al-Mezan organization; Raji Sourani from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR); and Shawan Jabarin from al-Haq. Sourani and Jabarin have held senior positions at the international umbrella organization International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) based in France.
In tandem, recent years have seen the growth of human rights organizations coming from the political Islam, taking advantage of the openness in the West to these organizations without its checking as to who and what is behind them. Thus, the Geneva-based Euro-Med Monitor organization claimed to have submitted detailed documents to the prosecution team and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). During the war, the organization called for an international investigation against Israel for allegedly harvesting organs from Palestinian corpses, a claim that was echoed by online influencers. Ramy Abdu, the organization's founder and chairman of its board, was defined in Israel in 2013 as a Hamas operative in Europe.
The Islamist-American organization Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), whose Board members include Nihad Awad, CEO of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), signed a petition in support of the lawsuit along with hundreds of radical left and political Islam bodies. The organization held a panel of experts, which recommended to the countries which signed on the Genocide Convention to submit statements in support of the lawsuit. At the same time, the organization submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) a list of 40 IDF officers involved in waging the campaign in Gaza.
The Islamist organizations emphasize the legal and media struggle with Israel. The Freedom for Palestine conference held in Istanbul in mid-January, with the participation of bodies associated with the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, called for the establishment of working groups that would work to “criminalize Zionism” and dismantle it and prosecute its leaders and those who stand by it, and announced the launch of two media campaigns: “Zionism is racism” and “resistance is a right and a duty".
Thus alongside the military campaign, Hamas and its international support circles in the red-green alliance are conducting a multidimensional campaign to undermine Israel's international legitimacy, through an extensive network of civil society organizations. Israel is required to recognize the importance of this campaign and develop a comprehensive strategy against it.
For more than two decades, the “red-green alliance” between radical left and political Islam activists (“Islamists”) has been active in civil and public arenas in the West, including the legal arena. Therefore, it is not surprising to discover a great deal of its involvement in the lawsuit against Israel in The Hague, in part in the framework of human rights organizations. For example, three advisers to the prosecution are members of organizations affiliated with the circles of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP): Issam Younis from the al-Mezan organization; Raji Sourani from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR); and Shawan Jabarin from al-Haq. Sourani and Jabarin have held senior positions at the international umbrella organization International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) based in France.
In tandem, recent years have seen the growth of human rights organizations coming from the political Islam, taking advantage of the openness in the West to these organizations without its checking as to who and what is behind them. Thus, the Geneva-based Euro-Med Monitor organization claimed to have submitted detailed documents to the prosecution team and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). During the war, the organization called for an international investigation against Israel for allegedly harvesting organs from Palestinian corpses, a claim that was echoed by online influencers. Ramy Abdu, the organization's founder and chairman of its board, was defined in Israel in 2013 as a Hamas operative in Europe.
The Islamist-American organization Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), whose Board members include Nihad Awad, CEO of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), signed a petition in support of the lawsuit along with hundreds of radical left and political Islam bodies. The organization held a panel of experts, which recommended to the countries which signed on the Genocide Convention to submit statements in support of the lawsuit. At the same time, the organization submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) a list of 40 IDF officers involved in waging the campaign in Gaza.
The Islamist organizations emphasize the legal and media struggle with Israel. The Freedom for Palestine conference held in Istanbul in mid-January, with the participation of bodies associated with the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, called for the establishment of working groups that would work to “criminalize Zionism” and dismantle it and prosecute its leaders and those who stand by it, and announced the launch of two media campaigns: “Zionism is racism” and “resistance is a right and a duty".
Thus alongside the military campaign, Hamas and its international support circles in the red-green alliance are conducting a multidimensional campaign to undermine Israel's international legitimacy, through an extensive network of civil society organizations. Israel is required to recognize the importance of this campaign and develop a comprehensive strategy against it.