Arab human rights defenders sanctioned by Western donors

For the past 10 years, Egyptian lawyer Azza Soliman has relied on German support: financial aid for the activities of the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA), which she founded, and political support when she and other civil society figures were victims of repression in Cairo. But this relationship of trust was shattered by the war in Gaza.

In November, Soliman learned that Germany was withdrawing funding for a project to support women victims of human trafficking after she had signed, along with more than 200 Arab organizations, a declaration condemning “the genocide against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip” and calling for sanctions against Israel, “the occupying and apartheid state.”

The sanction sparked an outcry from Egyptian civil society, which criticized the censorship. “Do the German authorities want to discipline us? Teach us what we’re allowed to say? It’s outrageous!” protested the lawyer. Contacted by The worldthe German Foreign Ministry said that the decision had been taken because of “public statements by the CEWLA organization and its founder, which are incompatible” with Berlin’s position, in particular “the call for an economic boycott of Israel.”

‘Reassessment of political positions’

This decision is part of a broader framework. Since the October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in 1,140 deaths in Israel and 240 people taken hostage, Germany has been voting projects funded “in the region.” “This review includes a reassessment of the political positions and statements of our partners in the light of the Hamas terrorist attacks and with regard to the state of Israel,” explained the ministry in its written response.

In essence, Arab human rights defenders risk losing their funding if they do not align themselves with this donor’s political position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The unconditional support given to the state of Israel by Washington and a majority of European leaders has sparked outrage in the Arab world. This support is considered all the most intolerable as the Israeli offensive in Gaza has wreaked havoc among civilians: 20,000 dead, two-thirds of them women and children, according to local health authorities.

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Other European governments want to review their partnerships with civil society organizations in the Middle East. Palestinian NGOs are under the most pressure. At the end of November, the European Union extended an “anti-incentive” clause to all new contracts signed with Palestinian actors, a clause that previously only applied to a fraction of the projects funded by Brussels. Program beneficiaries criticize this vague wording, which could be used to suppress their efforts to expose the Israeli occupation.

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