Israel says 37 NGOs to be barred from Gaza and West Bank after failing to register under new guidelines

The licenses of 37 international NGOs operating in Gaza and the West Bank will expire on January 1 since they did not comply with stringent new requirements to register with the government, as required under a government resolution from March 1 this year, the Diaspora Affairs Ministry announces.

That resolution required such NGOs to submit a raft of documentation about their organization and operations, including a list of all foreign and Palestinian employees involved in their operations, including their passport and personal identification numbers.

The resolution enables the inter-ministerial team designated to review applications to deny registration to NGOs for a wide range of reasons, including if the organization denies the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; “promotes delegitimization campaigns” against Israel; or if it, or any officeholder, has called for a boycott of Israel, among numerous other conditions.

The Diaspora Affairs Ministry, which was designated by the government resolution to lead the registration process, insists that the new regulations are necessary due to what it says are findings by the security services that some NGO workers have been involved in terrorist activities, citing two such workers who were employed by the Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) organization. MSF said at the time that it would never knowingly employ people engaged in military activity.

The ministry says the organizations in question, including MSF, have had 10 months to submit their registration application based on the new requirements, and that the original deadline they were given for September was extended to the end of December to enable them to meet the demands of the registration process.

The COGAT agency of the Defense Ministry, which coordinates the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza, insists that the provision of aid to the territory will not be affected by the revocation of NGO licenses, since the 37 organizations in question did not provide aid to Gaza since the beginning of the current ceasefire beginning on October 10, and says their combined contribution before the ceasefire “amounted to only about 1% of the total aid volume.”

COGAT asserts that the registration process is designed “to prevent the exploitation of aid by Hamas,” which it says has worked under the cover of international aid organizations for “the diversion of aid, the use of local employees for terrorist purposes, and the transfer of funds from terror-linked sources.”
International organizations have said that Israel’s rules are arbitrary and could endanger staff.

Although the organizations could technically continue operations in Gaza without an Israeli license, they would need to enter and exit through Egypt, which is not currently possible. The operational need to coordinate activities in Gaza with Israeli authorities would also make such operations practically impossible.

“The message is clear: Humanitarian assistance is welcome – the exploitation of humanitarian frameworks for terrorist purposes is unacceptable. Israel will continue to protect its sovereignty, its citizens, and the integrity of humanitarian action,” says Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli.