Gerald M. Steinberg

For the former UK Labour Party politician, see Gerry Steinberg.

Gerald Steinberg

Gerald M. Steinberg, a professor of politics at Bar Ilan University, is an Israeli academic, political scientist, and political activist. He is founder and president of NGO Monitor, a policy analysis think tank focusing on non-governmental organizations.

Biography

Gerald Steinberg was born in the United Kingdom.[1] He completed a joint bachelor's degree in physics and Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973 and a master's degree in physics at the University of California, San Diego, in 1975. He obtained his doctorate in government from Cornell University in 1981.[2] He began teaching at Bar Ilan University in 1982, and is a professor of political science.[3][2]

Steinberg has served as a consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the Israeli National Security Council.[4][5] He also served as a legislative adviser to Likud Knesset Member Ze'ev Elkin.[6]

NGO Monitor

Steinberg is founder and president of NGO Monitor, a right-wing non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem that reports on international NGO activity from a pro-Israel perspective.[7][8][9][10][11]

Steinberg has been a longtime critic of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Christian Aid, Oxfam, and other organizations he says have "contributed to the hatred, rather than supporting peace".[12] In a 2004 Jerusalem Post article[13] he wrote, "HRW's press statement exposes it as a biased political organization hiding behind the rhetoric of human rights." Later he accused HRW of "exploiting the rhetoric of human rights to delegitimize Israel".[14] HRW accused Steinberg of "sleight of hand" in his reporting of its activities, and of ignoring its condemnations of Palestinian militant actions.[15]

In 2014, former Associated Press journalist Matti Friedman said that AP reporters had been banned from interviewing Steinberg and NGO Monitor.[16] The AP denied the claim.[16]

Court case

In January 2010, after the European Commission refused to release documents on NGO funding, Steinberg initiated legal action under the EU's Freedom of Information statutes. The court ruled that instability in the Middle East and the prospect that "such information may pose a danger to human rights groups" justified the refusal.[17] The court further found that Steinberg's petition was "manifestly lacking any foundation in law".[18][19]

Of Steinberg's failed legal action, Israeli attorney Michael Sfard said: "Steinberg invents demons and then chases them. On the way, he convinces the Europeans that the fears for the welfare of Israeli democracy are justified. All the data about the donations of foreign countries to Israeli human rights organizations are published on the Web sites of the organizations, as required by law."[20]

Criticism

Yehudit Karp, a former Israeli deputy attorney general, charged that Steinberg published material he knew to be wrong "along with some manipulative interpretation".[21]

Reporter Uriel Heilman said that Steinberg played "fast and loose" with the facts by repeating comments about the New Israel Fund that Steinberg knew were untrue. In response, Steinberg acknowledged that some of his reports were poorly phrased and promised to correct them.[22]

In The Jerusalem Post, Kenneth Roth wrote that Steinberg shows a "disregard for basic facts" when writing about human rights.[23]

References

  1. ^ Friedman, Matti (30 November 2014). "What the Media Gets Wrong About Israel". The Atlantic. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  2. ^ a b Professor Gerald Steinberg Academic cv
  3. ^ "Prof. Gerald Steinberg". Bar-Ilan University.
  4. ^ Steinberg, Gerald (2011). "NGOs, the UN, and the Politics of Human Rights". Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs. 5 (1): 73. doi:10.1080/23739770.2011.11446444. S2CID 151522839.
  5. ^ "Steinberg: Israel Sees Diplomatic Proposals in Baker-Hamilton Report a Rerun of 'Failed' Policies of Past". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  6. ^ Chazan, Naomi (2012). Israel in the World: Legitimacy and Exceptionalism. Routledge. p. 94. ISBN 978-0415624152.
  7. ^ Gurvitz, Yossi (29 April 2014). "What is NGO Monitor's connection to the Israeli government?". +972 Magazine. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  8. ^ Rubin, A.; Sarfati, Y.; Akman, C.A.; Erdeniz, G.; Fishman, L.; Golan-Nadir, N.; Michaeli, I.; Tepe, S. (2016). The Jarring Road to Democratic Inclusion: A Comparative Assessment of State–Society Engagements in Israel and Turkey. Lexington Books. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4985-2508-4. Retrieved 2021-12-10. Right-wing organizations Im Tirzu and NGO Monitor ...
  9. ^ Stetter, Stephan (2012). The Middle East and Globalization: Encounters and Horizons. Palgrave Macmillan US. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-137-03176-1. Retrieved 2021-12-10. Transnational NGOs usually do not become a conflict party and are less likely to be associated with one of the conflict parties-although, to pick but two examples, as the campaign of the right-wing NGO Monitor in Israel against the involvement of "external actors"
  10. ^ Khalidi, Rashid (2013). Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-4476-6. Retrieved 2021-12-10. Several other right-wing Israeli NGOs follow the same approach, including NGO Monitor
  11. ^ "Ha'aretz columnist dropped by British Zionists". JTA. 31 August 2007.
  12. ^ Gerald Steinberg (January 13, 2005). "Human Rights Groups are Working Against Peace". NGO Monitor. Archived from the original on 2011-06-10. With their multi-million-dollar budgets, global superpowers such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, Christian Aid, Oxfam and dozens of smaller allied groups have contributed to the hatred, rather than supporting peace.
  13. ^ Gerald Steinberg (March 8, 2004). "Israelis Have No "Human Rights"". NGO Monitor.
  14. ^ Gerald Steinberg (April 7, 2004). "Human Rights Watch can't take the heat". Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23.
  15. ^ Kenneth Roth (April 2, 2004). "The Truth Hurts". Human Rights Watch.
  16. ^ a b Bernstein, David (2014-12-02). "Blacklisting of pro-Israel watchdog organization NGO Monitor by the Associated Press". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  17. ^ Chaim Levinson (December 25, 2012). "EU court rejects NGO Monitor petition to release details on Israeli rights groups". Haaretz.
  18. ^ "EU throws out NGO Monitor case, tells Gerald Steinberg to pick up the tab". 24 December 2012.
  19. ^ "ECJ discards Israeli group's NGO funding case". The Jerusalem Post - JPost.com. 25 December 2012.
  20. ^ "EU Court Rejects NGO Monitor Petition to Release Details on Israeli Rights Groups". Haaretz. 2012-12-25. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  21. ^ Yehudit Karp (March 6, 2012). "NGO Monitor and Adalah: The thinly veiled agenda". Times of Israel.
  22. ^ "Playing fast and loose with the facts at NGO Monitor (UPDATED)". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2009-06-18. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  23. ^ Roth, Kenneth (1 April 2004). "The Truth Hurts". Jerusalem Post.