NGO Malpractice

ngo malpractice page 34
“Physicians,” half of the 1,500 claimed members
and a number of key staff are not medical
professionals. 188 A PHR-I advertisement in the
Ha’aretz newspaper in February 2003 declared
that “The organization will only work with
doctors who resist the occupation.” 189 Crucially,
the “resistance” described is more than a figure
of speech. In 2009, for example, PHR-I provided
pro-Palestinian activists with first aid training
in preparation for the violent protests against
the security barrier at Bil’in. 190 Pamphlets were
distributed stating that the course was given
“in solidarity with their struggle against Israeli
occupation.” 191
Dr. Yoram Blachar, then president of the Israel
Medical Association (IMA), criticized PHR-I for
its first aid course, “Physicians for Human Rights
have proved that they are a radical political
group disguised as a medical organization.” In
response, Dani Filc, then chair of PHR-I’s board
of directors, dismissed the possibility of medical
impartiality: “By not opposing the occupation,
it is Blachar who is taking a political stand
while claiming to be apolitical. Not resisting
occupation is a political action since it supports
the occupation’s existence.” 192
On February 17, 2011, PHR-I staff returned to
Bil’in to hold a “medical day” commemorating
“Six years of resistance against the wall.” 193
PHR-I board members Rafi Walden, Hassan
Mathani, and Ruchama Marton attended the
event. Providing a highly distorted narrative of
the protests, Marton remarked that PHR-I staff
was there
to show the residents of Bil’in, to show
ourselves, and the whole world that we
support their non-violent struggle, a struggle
characterized by consistent Army violence
against civilians. The use of live ammunition,
rubber bullets, the mass arrests of local
leaders and minors in the middle of the night
will not stop, the struggle for freedom or our
call to return the confiscated land of Bil’in to
their people. 194
As this and other examples demonstrate,
PHR-I’s medical expertise was specifically
deployed to assist political actions, and not
based on medical criteria alone.
Medical Claims-Torture
Since the 1990s, PHR-I has repeatedly accused
the IMA and its membership of either complicity
or active participation in torture purportedly
undertaken by Israeli security forces. 195 Most
of PHR-I’s work on this topic has been done
in collaboration with another Israeli political
advocacy NGO, the Public Committee against
Torture in Israel (PCATI). (PHR-I and PCATI
have mutual donors, including the European
Union, Spain, and New Israel Fund.)
188 “Physicians for Human Rights-Israel | Who We Are |
Mission & History.”
189 “Israel Medical Association Accuses PHR-Israel of
Politicization,” NGO Monitor Digest 1, no. 5 (March 11, 2003),
available at http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article.php?id=928.
190 “2 Palestinians, 1 IDF Soldier Hurt in Anti-separation
Fence Protest,” Haaretz, May 2009, available at http://www.
haaretz.com/news/2-palestinians-1-idf-soldier-hurt-in-antiseparation-fence-protest-1.276551.
191 Cnaan Lipshitz, “Top Doctor Slams Group’s First Aid
Course for West Bank Protestors,” Haaretz, July 2009, available
at http://www.haaretz.com/news/top-doctor-slams-group-sfirst-aid-course-for-west-bank-protestors-1.279761.
192 Ibid.
193 “To Commemorate 6 Years of Struggle, Physicians For
Human Rights-Israel Mobile Clinic Will Visit Bil’in This
Saturday,” Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, February
17, 2011, available at http://www.phr.org.il/default.
asp?PageID=155&ItemID=891.
As this and other examples
demonstrate, PHR-I’s medical
expertise was specifically
deployed to assist political
actions, and not based on
medical criteria alone.
194 Ibid.
195 Antony Lerman, “Israel’s Doctors Must Allay Torture
Fears,” The Guardian, December 22, 2009, available at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/22/
israel-palestinian-doctors-torture-allegations.