U.S., Canadian and European governments indirectly fund the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, says NGO Monitor Chief Programs Officer Yitzhak Santis. NGO Monitor has found that BDS efforts often get funding through local government-backed organizations. "Funding comes from the church, but when you look at the bigger picture of nongovernmental organizations, which are part of this effort, most of the funding comes from the European Union," Santis says. "We want to name and shame the governments for this kind of funding." Camera: Doron Persaud. Makeup: Hagar Nahmias. Anchorwoman: Danielle Roth. Photos: Anna Baltzer, Paul Jeffrey/United Methodist News Service, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Yitzhak Santis, Mahjoob.com, friendsofsabeel.org.uk. Archive: YouTube.
Santis heads NGO Monitor's BDS in the Pews project, which examines the role of churches, Christian aid societies, and faith-based nongovernmental organizations in political campaigns against Israel. The project provides analysis of the activities and funding of these groups, as well as their grantees, in the context of demonization and delegitimization campaigns.
According to a report on the ties between the BDS movement and mainline Christian religious groups, "A number of European governments, plus the United States and Canada, provide funds for these church-based efforts to delegitimize Israel. These taxpayer funds are disbursed as grants to church-based humanitarian NGOs, which then transfer these funds to highly politicized pro-Palestinian NGOs, including Christian groups that promote BDS, the one-state solution and, in many cases, anti-Semitic supercessionist, or replacement, theologies within mainline churches worldwide."
