Press Releases

BADIL submitted its report to the Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, to inform her upcoming global study on the impact of counter-terrorism measures on civil society and civic space.

BADIL’s submission highlighted Israel's systematic attack on Palestinian civil society. To stifle dissent and establish a system of domination and control over the Palestinian people, Israel manipulates the counter terrorism framework to target Palestinian organizations and human rights defenders that promote a rights-based approach in pursuit of liberation.

Furthermore, Israel and its proxy GONGOs’ false claims of ties with terrorism and defamation campaigns prompt international governments to enact defunding and silencing policies to criminalize resistance and advocacy measures used by Palestinian and international civil societies.

The report also identified banking restrictions and examined the issue of de-risking faced by Palestinian civil society. The report analysed a number of these regulations that lead to restricting organizations’ ability to receive funding or even accessing banking services, eventually hindering civil society’s capacity to operate and advocate for Palestinian rights.

These policies are part of Israel's wider strategy to facilitate its crimes of forced population transfer, the suppression of resistance and the denial of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

BADIL called on the SR to investigate the abuse of the anti-terrorism framework both by Israel and the international donor community. BADIL also called on the international donor community to responsibly recognize the impact of their counter-terrorism restrictions in inspiring other constraints under the auspices of counter-terror, and to adopt a genuine human rights-based approach that is in partnership with and in service of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and liberation from colonial-apartheid oppression.