Insiders Speak: NGOAntisemitism, Failed Accountability, and Their effect on Social Cohesion

"The tipping point was realizing this wasn't a series of isolated failures in a few organizations affecting a handful of employees."

"It was a systemic breakdown of values and principles within global organizations that shape democratic life -- with public trust as the real casualty -- and the situation was only getting worse."

"[The Israel/Palestine director of Human Rights Watch was] repeatedly calling the Hamas-led Ministry of Health figures reliable and credible."

Danielle Haas, executive director EiGHT

 

"Global rights NGOs operate not only as investigators and advocates, but as strategic actors seeking to shape public narratives."

"[This represents] hostile behaviour related to Jews, Israel, or Israelis [within organizations claiming to defend human rights]."

"[There is] systematic patterns of discrimination, bias, and accountability failure across the sector."

"[This 63-page report by EiGHT founded by NGO insiders is] the first independent and extensive account [of its kind]." 

EiGHT -- Insiders Speak: NGO Antisemitism, Failed Accountability, and Their effect on Social Cohesion

 

"That is how credibility dies: institutional certainty, slogan repetition, and refusal to self-correct."

"The reality is that many of these organizations now function less like watchdogs and more like unelected political parties -- powerful actors inside left-leaning public opinion but increasingly detached from rigorous standards and from the basic human rights principles they claim to defend."

Global human rights NGO staffer

Associated with Human Rights Watch for about 14 years, Danielle Haas finally left the organization in 2023 after having raised her concerns respecting methodological failures and compromised standards in an exit email. She is involved in a new report where 70 former and current staff from humanitarian and rights groups formed an alliance to educate the public on a matter that is vital to the complete understanding of the abandonment of neutral human rights issues by groups whose purpose was to defend them without fear or favour. 

 

The resulting report was subsequently filed through recognized official mechanisms, forwarded to five United Nations Special Rapporteurs along with Australia's Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. The report by NGO insiders includes interviews with affected Jews and non-Jews. They took issue with managers, staff and leaders in various NGOs who indulged in airing to the public "dehumanizing views toward Israel and Jews", a tone set from the top down.

 

Citing Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres/MSF), Greenpeace, Human Rights Watch, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mercy Corps, Plan International, Save the Children and UNICEF, the report alleges that the Internal Souk communication platform of Doctors Without Borders featured posts like "Stop playing the Jewish card"; posts accessible to 67,000 staff and association members.

 

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was publicly praised by an Amnesty International Australia staffer who spoke of him online as "Legend!!" The interviewees whose responses formed part of the report spoke anonymously in fear of backlash. Growing numbers of Jewish professionals across organizations reported concealing their identity in part, or leaving the sector altogether, with one staffer describing "soft ostracism, ghosting, quiet exclusion" instead of direct confrontation when concerns were raised.

 

Ex-press-officer Diane Richard at Plan International France questioned the organization's silence respecting the Hamas October 7 sexual violence victims. She was subjected to retaliation and subsequent dismissal. Interviewees described being "eliminated" following their concerns being raised of alleged antisemitism, and then saw the same positions reappear. A global environmental NGO in Australia saw an employee describe post-9/11 events as  "increasingly characterized by hostility toward Israel and Jews, including Holocaust comparisons, minimizing or justifying Hamas violence, and promoting BDS-related activity".

 

Yet another described "systemic pollution of international NGO spaces ... with the constant demonization of Israel, the total acquittal of Palestinian leadership, and the adoption of anti-Israel language, like genocide, intifada, settler-colonialism, etc." Complaint systems that appear designed to preserve institutional reputations were included in the report. Many of the interviewees said that concerns of alleged antisemitism, discrimination or Israel-Palestine issues were dismissed, reframed as political disagreement, or treated differently from other discriminatory complaints.

 

However, movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter warranted swift institutional responses. Staff spoke of non-disclosure agreements used as intimidation, where NDAs at Plan International and Greenpeace resulted in "marginalization, role elimination, and enforced silence".  

A boy and his mother at a clinic run by Doctors Without Borders in Gaza City in 2022. The group is one of the NGOs named for antisemitism and/or anti-Israel bias in a new report. Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

 

"Any form of antisemitism, racism, discrimination, or bigotry by MSF staff is unacceptable and fundamentally incompatible with our humanitarian principles. MSF understands how dangerous antisemitism is and we are committed to taking it seriously."

"Throughout our more than 40-year history, MSF has spoken out against abuses committed by governments and armed actors around the world whenever they have endangered patients, health-care workers, or civilians. We apply this same standard consistently, regardless of the country or parties."

"The way Israel has prosecuted this war has resulted in immense civilian suffering, repeatedly placed medical personnel and patients at risk, and severely undermined access to life-saving health care and humanitarian assistance."

"We believe these actions raise profound concerns under international humanitarian law and are incompatible with the obligation to protect civilians, medical facilities, and humanitarian workers during armed conflict."

Claudia Blume, MSF spokesperson 

Amnesty International members hold up signs calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict at an anti-Israel rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 12, 2025. In the EiGHT report, some Amnesty staffers from around the world describe being punished or frozen out after raising concerns over antisemitism or anti-Israel bias. Photo by Paula Tran/Postmedia

  

"We saw trusted, household-name NGOs becoming so infested by ideology, that they have ignored and even excused racism, violated core principles like neutrality and universalism, grown comfortable with being militant-adjacent, openly courted money from rights-abusing countries like Qatar, and pumped compromised work into the public sphere. And instead of showing concern or acting when these issues were raised, managers repeatedly and consistently ignored, denied, and excused them -- sidelining, and retaliating against people who spoke up."

"The result is that flawed or incomplete reporting infused by ideology is shaping public understanding and democratic decision-making."

"The problem isn't influence. It's influence without independent accountability. No institution that shapes democratic decision-making should be left to judge its own standards and claim rigour without being challenged. It's downright dangerous."

Danielle Haas, executive director, EiGHT 

 

As They See It: Threatened Nuclear Plant ... Amnesty International

Getty Images  A Russian soldier stands guard outside Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

"Any attack to a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing."

"We fully support the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] in all their efforts in relation to create the conditions of stabilization of the [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant]."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

"Ukrainian nationalists launched an artillery strike on the territory of the specified object on August 5. Two high-voltage power lines and a water pipeline were damaged as a result of the shelling."

"Only thanks to the effective and timely actions of the Russian military in covering the nuclear power facility its critical infrastructure was not affected."

Russian Embassy, Washington, statement

"Pokalchuk [resigned head of Amnesty International to Ukraine complained that the organization's employees in Ukraine asked Amnesty International for time allowing the Ukrainian Defense Ministry to respond to AI's findings before publication, but officials were given] very little time to respond."

"As a result of this although unwillingly, the organization created material that sounded like support of Russian narratives."

"Seeking to protect civilians, this study instead has become a tool of Russian propaganda."

Oksana Pokalchuk, formerly with Amnesty International

Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe   Reuters

 

International inspectors must be given access to the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant occupied by Russian troops, urged UN Secretary-General Guterres following frightening reports that Ukraine and Russia had accused one another of shelling the nuclear plant, Europe's largest atomic plant, on the weekend.

Mr. Guterres was speaking from Japan, visiting to attend the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, toward the end of the war. The horrors that unfolded in both cities have been memorialized as the first global disaster of its kind, and the risk of another similar event taking place as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is mind-shuddering.

Renewed Russian shelling on Saturday damaged three radiation sensors and injured a worker at the plant. This strike representing the second to hit the site in consecutive days. Leading Ukrainian President  Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accuse Russia of "nuclear terror", warranting more sanctions by the international community, and this time to focus on Moscow' nuclear sector. "There is no such nation in the world that could feel safe when a terrorist state fires at a nuclear plant", stated the president.

The plant has been occupied by Russian forces since early March. The plant's Ukrainian technicians have been left in place to continue operating and monitoring the plant's functionability, on watch to identify any potential emergencies. According to the Russia-installed area authority, it was Ukrainian forces that hit the site, with the use of a multiple rocket launcher, damaging administrative buildings and a storage facility. That might be the storage facility that Russian troops have packed full of military gear and explosives.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, chief of the IAEA, warned that the latest attack "underlines the very real risk of a nuclear disaster". Russian troops are focused on gaining full control of the Donbas region of east Ukraine. "Ukrainian soldiers are firmly holding the defence, inflicting losses on the enemy and are ready for any changes in the operational situation", stated Ukraine's general staff in a Monday update.

While these events are worryingly ongoing, the head of Amnesty International in Ukraine resigned her position with the human rights organization when it issued a report criticizing Ukraine's military. Ukrainian authorities responded with outrage, with the observation the report unfairly blamed the victim in Russia's war. Oksana Pokalchuk was on board when Amnesty highlighted Russian war crimes, but its latest report alleged that "Ukrainian fighting tactics endanger civilians", a charge that conflicted with the Ukrainian office of Amnesty's staff.

"Amnesty International deeply regrets the distress and anger that our press release on the Ukrainian military's fighting tactics has caused."

"Amnesty International's priority in this and in any conflict is ensuring that civilians are protected. Indeed, this was our sole objective when releasing this latest piece of research. While we fully stand by our findings we regret the pain caused."

Amnesty International statement

Rudnyts’ke school was the headquarters of the Russian military before the Ukrainan army retook control of the area in March. Photograph: Andrea Filigheddu/Zuma Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock