World Vision is a “Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.”[i]

Yet World Vision instead of promoting peace by bringing the opposing parties together to explore areas of mutual agreement have engaged in rhetoric and implemented policies that polarise the situation.  By doing so they make the possibility of a negotiated peace even more remote.

World Vision promotes a highly politicized and biased agenda, placing sole blame for the continuation of the conflict on Israel and paying little attention to legitimate Israeli security concerns or Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians. This includes calling the security barrier “illegal,”[ii] ignoring the fact that the barrier was built in the wake of the second intifada in which Israeli civilians were the targets of near daily suicide bombings.

World Vision Australia financially supports the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network[iii], which was established “by church leaders who saw a particular role for Christians to advocate from a faith perspective about Palestinian human rights.”

The Ecumenical Network “find inspiration and direction from the Kairos Palestine document[iv],” which denies Jewish historical connections to the land of Israel. The ecumenical network’s website features an “online resources” page, which includes texts that challenge Christian Zionism, as well as books and articles written by Naim Ateek, founder of anti-Israel NGO Sabeel[v], and others. Its website also promoted a May 16, 2014 event, organized by Friends of Palestine Western Australia, entitled “Commemorate Al Nakba: Protest Israeli Apartheid.“

World Vision endorsed the film, “With God on Our Side[vi],” which attacks Christian support for Israel and presents an “anti-Jewish theology” and “biased misunderstanding of ‘Jews,’ ‘Zionist,’ and ‘Israel.’” The film was condemned [vii] for being “biased, simplistic, and factually incorrect.”  World Vision has since distanced itself from the film in a statement responding to its work and advocacy in the Middle East. But even in that statement, it cannot acknowledge Arab actions that foster military activity.

Tom Getman, former head of Palestinian operations[viii], has expressed virulently antisemitic hatred of the “Zionist enterprise” and its “idolatry.” In a video interview with Rev. Steven Sizer, Getman referred to members of Hezbollah as his “friends,” seeking their guidance regarding his position on Israel.

World Vision issued a joint statement[ix] on November 19, 2012, with 44 other highly politicized organizations, including American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)[x], Care International[xi], DanChurchAid[xii], Diakonia[xiii], Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)[xiv], Save the Children[xv], and Norwegian Refugee Council[xvi], calling on the international community to “apply immediate pressure on the government of Israel” and warning of a “widespread humanitarian disaster in Gaza brought on by a prolonged [Israeli] military occupation.”

The organization presents biased and historically inaccurate description of the conflict in its “Brief History of the Region[xvii].” The “history” fails to mention the Arab invasion that led to the 1948 War of Independence. Similarly, the profile offers no background or context to the 1967 Six Day War that led to Israel’s control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip simply stating that, “In 1967 Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.”

During the 2014 Gaza war, World Vision called for a ceasefire, but stated[xviii] that, “There is no sign at the moment that this latest cycle of violence will contribute anything towards ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and therefore will not bring security for Israel.”

In 2010, World Vision reportedly financed a youth center[xix] named after Palestinian terrorist Abu Jihad[xx], a founder of Fatah who planned numerous terrorist attacks against Israelis, including a 1978 bus hijacking, which resulted in the death of 37 civilians.

In a July 14, 2004 in an opinion piece in The Age (Melbourne), World Vision Australia’s Chief Executive Tim Costello described the security barrier as “part of the problem, not part of the solution[xxi],” evoking the highly politicized claim that the barrier “is reminiscent of the Cold War and Eastern Bloc oppression.” Costello’s comparison reflects the Palestinian propaganda effort to compare the Berlin Wall, designed to keep citizens from fleeing, with Israel’s security barrier, which protects Israel’s citizens.

Put together, World Vision has been expousing and implementing an agenda that portrays Israel as the sole cause of Arab suffering in the Middle East and either ignores or obfuscates the contribution of Arab Militant Islamism, terrorism and corruption.  Somehow World Vision cannot see that Arab leaders governing the West Bank and Gaza have offered no other peace solution to their people except further violence which has only brought them injury, misery, loss, ruin and death.

Endnotes

[i] World Vision, Homepage, www.wvi.org/es, accessed 4 September 2016.

[ii] World Vision, Alone: Palestinian Children in the Israeli Military Detention System.  http://wvi.org/jerusalem-west-bank-gaza/video/alone-palestinian-children-israeli-military-detention- Accessed 4 September 2016.

[iii] Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network, About Page. http://pien.org.au/about/.  Accessed 4 September 2016.

[iv] NGO Monitor (2 July 2012). BDS IN THE PEWS: European, US, and Canadian Government Funding Behind Anti-Israel Activism in Mainline Churches. Accessed 4 September 2016.

[v] NGO Monitor (16 Feb 2014). Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center.  Accessed 4 September 2016.

[vi] Rooftop Productions. With God on Our Side.  http://www.withgodonourside.com/  Accessed 4 September 2016.

[vii] Freund J G (2011).  A response to With God on Our Side.  https://www.scribd.com/doc/49980263/A-Response-to-the-film-With-God-on-Our-Side#download.  Accessed 4 September 3016.

[viii] Neuer, H (19 August 2016), http://www.unwatch.org/un-watch-op-ed-jerusalem-report-aid-workers-aiding-hamas/. UN Watch.  Accessed 4 September 2016.

[ix] World Vision et al (19 November 2012).  WV JWG Releases Joint Statement with AIDA.  http://wvi.org/middle-east/pressrelease/wv-jwg-releases-joint-statement-aida.  Accessed 4 September 2016.

[x] http://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/american_friends_service_committee_afsc_/.

[xi] http://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/care/

[xii] http://www.ngo-monitor.org/funder/danchurchaid_denmark/.

[xiii] http://www.ngo-monitor.org/funder/diakonia/.

[xiv] http://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/medical_aid_for_palestinians_map_/.

[xv] http://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/save_the_children_fund/.

[xvi] http://www.ngo-monitor.org/funder/norwegian_refugee_council_/.

[xvii] World Vision (date).  A brief history of the Region.  https://web.archive.org/web/20040207192727/http:/www.wvi.org/wvi/country_profile/profiles/jwbg.htm.  Accessed 4 September 2016.

[xviii] World Vision (15 July 2014).  Attacks that kill children have to be stopped immediately, says World Vision.  http://www.wvi.org/jerusalem-west-bank-gaza/pressrelease/attacks-kill-children-have-be-stopped-immediately-says-world.

[xix] Marcus, I and Zilberdick, N (29 March 2010).  Australian Christian charity funds

terrorist “Abu Jihad Youth Center”, http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=1943. Accessed 4 September 2016.

[xx] Bolt, A (27 March 2010). How World Vision helped fund a monument to a Jew killer. Erald Sun. http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/how_world_vision_helped_fund_a_monument_to_a_jew_killer/desc/P0.  Accessed 4 September 2016.

[xxi] Costello, (14 July 2004).  For the children’s sake, tear down this wall! Fairfax Digital.  http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/13/1089694355635.html. Accessed 4 September 2016.

Mohammad El Halabi, World Vision’s manager of operations in Gaza, is accused of having siphoned off about $7.2m a year – around 60 percent of the organisation’s Gaza funding – to pay Hamas fighters, buy arms, pay for its activities and build fortifications

The trial has begun of a manager working for U.S.-headquartered Christian charity World Vision accused of funneling millions of dollars to Islamist militant group Hamas.

Mohammad El Halabi was arrested by Israel on June 15 while crossing the border into Gaza, World Vision said in a statement. He was charged by Israeli authorities on Thursday.

He had run the organization’s Gaza operations since 2010.

According to Israel’s Shin Bet security service, El Halabi diverted around $7.2 million of World Vision money to Hamas each year. That is the equivalent of 60 percent of the charity’s total annual funding for Gaza.

Some 40 percent of the funds aimed at civilian projects — some $1.5 million a year — were “given in cash” to Hamas combat units, according to a statement issued by the Shin Bet.

Some of the money raised to support injured children in the enclave had been diverted to Hamas families by “fraudulently listing their children as wounded,” according to the agency.

“Money designated for psychological support, education and health in Gaza … was used to pay the families of Hamas terrorists,” it added.

A lawyer appointed by World Vision to represent El Halabi told NBC News that his client denied the charges against him.

“He told me he never, ever transferred any money to Hamas and he has never been a Hamas member,” Muhamad Mahmud said.

The lawyer added that El Halabi had been denied access to a lawyer for 21 days and was badly beaten while in custody.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai called the case a “grave incident.”

He called on World Vision — which has operated in Gaza, Israel and the West Bank since 1975 — to “assume responsibility and set your house in order.”

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip and has fought three wars against Israel since it overran the coastal territory in 2007, is designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

World Vision said in a statement it was “shocked to learn of these charges against Mohammad.”

It added that it Gaza operations have been subject to regular internal and independent audits, independent evaluations, and internal controls.

“We will carefully review any evidence presented to us and will take appropriate actions based on that evidence,” the statement added. “We continue to call for a fair legal process.”

The incident prompted Australia’s government to suspend its funding for World Vision’s operations in the Palestinian Territories.

The country’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) called the allegations “deeply troubling” and said in a statement that it was “urgently seeking more information from World Vision and the Israeli authorities.”

Mohammad El-Halabi’s trial is expected to yield important information about what happened to, among other donations, Australian public money given to World Vision, as Australia had given the charity around $5 million for humanitarian work in Gaza over the past five years.

Australia froze funding last month after El-Halabi, World Vision’s local director, was charged by Israeli authorities with directing millions to Hamas. He was said to have diverted up to $9.4 million a year over more than five years, intended for the needy, to fill the coffers of Hamas.

El-Halabi didn’t enter a plea on Tuesday, but did learn that his trial will take place behind closed doors, in view of the security-related sensitivity of the charges. Human rights organisations are claiming that this is unacceptable.

“It should be public and allow observers to attend and to see what’s happening,” Sari Bashi, director of Human Rights Watch in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, told The AJN, voicing a lack of confidence in Israeli closed-door hearings. “This would allow him and his lawyers to get a fair trial.”

She added: “There’s a lot of damage to World Vision’s reputation and therefore people should be to see and hear the trial.”

Dahlia Scheindlin, a left-leaning Israeli analyst, told The AJN she considers the closed-door arrangement “disturbing”.

Kevin Jenkins, the president of World Vision, demanded an open trial just before the court decided otherwise. “A trial is legitimate if it is transparent,” he told Agence France-Presse in an interview on Monday. “Obviously, with such serious allegations against a staff member, we are calling for him to have a fair hearing.”

But Israeli prosecutors say that it is normal for trials involving sensitive information to take place behind closed doors, and say that this practice won’t undermine the fairness of El-Halabi’s hearing.

Some Israeli researchers say that a closed trial may prove essential – to save Palestinian lives. “At the forthcoming World Vision trial, Palestinian witnesses will be called to testify about the transfer of humanitarian supplies to Hamas military and they will be risking their lives when they testify,” said David Bedein in an interview with The AJN.

Bedein, director of the Jerusalem-based Centre for Near East Policy Research and a longstanding critic of World Vision’s conduct in Gaza, said: “If Palestinian witnesses are forced to testify in the open, the possibility exists that they will be summarily executed by the powers that be.”

Headquartered in Monrovia, California, World Vision describes itself as “a global Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.”

The charity’s mission statement defines it as “an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.”

It operates in around 100 countries.

Sources:  NBC and The Australian Jewish News.