Sweden

Profile

Country/TerritorySweden

Activity

  • The Swedish government funds numerous Israeli, Palestinian, and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Embassy in Tel Aviv, and indirectly by outsourcing to Swedish church groups and aid organizations such as Diakonia.
  • In 2023, Sweden provided approximately $25.3 million to NGOs involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Many of these NGOs and church aid organizations are involved in anti-peace activities such as incitement, BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions), and legal attacks (“lawfare”) against Israel. Some of these groups also have reported ties to terrorist organizations.
  • In October 2023, in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas attack, the Swedish government suspended all funding for Palestinians pending a review of the aid. In December 2023,  Sida published the results of an initial review proclaiming that “Sida does not find any links to Hamas in Swedish aid in Palestine,” and that no NGO grantees were involved in incitement to hatred and violence after the 7 October 2023 events. (Read NGO Monitor’s report, “Sweden’s NGO Whitewash: NGO Monitor’s Analysis of Sida’s Palestinian Funding Review.”)
  • In February 2023, Sweden published a supplemental review whitewashing Swedish-funded Palestinian NGOs that justified and celebrated the October 7th attacks, denied Hamas’ atrocities, and continued to advance antisemitism. The supplemental report claimed that it “screened all direct contracting parties and all cooperation partners that receive support… and found that no organization is found on the EU’s sanctions list .” This inaccurate conclusion was achieved by creating an artificially narrow scope allowing it to exclude the most problematic Palestinian NGOs funded by Sweden – BADIL, Al-Haq, Defense for Children Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR). (Read NGO Monitor’s analysis, “Selective Oversight: Sweden’s NGO Review Found No Terror Support Because They Didn’t Look.”)
  • In August 2018, OmVärlden, an online magazine owned by Sida, published 20 articles making numerous false accusations about NGO Monitor. The articles consisted almost entirely of innuendo, factual inaccuracies, and antisemitic motifs reminiscent of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (spider web, conspiracy theories).
  • Sida paid $66,490 in 2014-2016 for an evaluation, “Research to better promote human rights in Israel/Palestine.” The evaluation was written by Jessica Montell, a member of the Secretariat’s Reference Group and, at the time former executive director of a Sida-funded NGO (B’Tselem). The Swedish government failed to respond to NGO Monitor’s concerns about conflicts of interest in this evaluation.

Direct Funding

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) Funding to Palestinian and Israeli NGOs

  • NGO Development Center (NDC)
    • In 2018-2023, Sida is committing SEK 140 million to NDC’s Human Rights Programme. According to the NDC, its Human Rights Fund Programme is guided primarily by Sweden’s development Cooperation Strategy for Palestine and “provide[s] core support to organisations that can demonstrate having the competence and capacity to contribute to real and sustainable change towards achieving the overall objective of the programme.”
    • For 2024-2027, the Human Rights Program was  extended to Phase II with a budget of SEK 120 million.
    • The NGOs receiving Swedish funding through the NDC are Al Mezan Al-Haq, BADIL, Defence for Children – Palestine (DCI-P), Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem, Gisha, and Yesh Din.
      • A number of Al-Mezan officials and employees are members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas, terrorist organizations designated as such by the USEUCanada, and Israel.  For more information on Al-Mezan’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Al Mezan Center For Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
      • On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Al-Haq a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.” General Director Shawan Jabarin is allegedly linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, and Canada. Click here to read NGO Monitor’s unofficial translation of the decision by the Israeli High Court of Justice.
      • Founded to promote a Palestinian “right of return” and a leader of international BDS campaigns. BADIL holds annual “right of return contests” and has published antisemitic cartoons on its website, as well as imagery promoting the elimination of Israel, which is a widely recognized form of antisemitism. A cartoon that won a monetary prize for 2nd prize in BADIL’s 2010 Al-Awda Nakba caricature competition is a blatant representation of classic antisemitic tropes, including a Jewish man, garbed in traditional Hasidic attire, with a hooked nose and side locks.
      • On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared DCI-P a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.” Numerous individuals with alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have been employed and appointed as board members at DCI-P. For more information on DCI-P’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Defense for Children International – Palestine’s Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
      • Breaking the Silence makes sweeping accusations based on anecdotal, anonymous, and unverifiable accounts of often low-ranked soldiers. These “testimonies” lack context, are politically biased, and erase the complicated reality in the West Bank. In addition, they reflect a distorted interpretation of the conflict in order to advance the political agenda of Breaking the Silence activists, thereby fueling the international campaigns against Israel.
      • B’Tselem actively pursues its political agenda of “international consequences” and international pressure on Israel via lobbying of the UN and European governments. In January 2021, B’Tselem launched a discriminatory and hateful campaign, under the banner of “A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid.” As part of the campaign, B’Tselem attacked Israel’s role as a haven for the Jewish people (the Law of Return) and used the phrase “from the river to the sea” – echoing long-standing Palestinian terminology for the destruction of Israel. (Read NGO Monitor’s analysis: “From the “River to the Sea”: B’Tselem’s Demonization Crosses the Line.”)
      • Gisha employs “apartheid” rhetoric and vocabulary based on international law and human rights to promote a partisan political and ideological agenda. In January 2021, Gisha published an article titled “Naming the reality,” writing that the “word apartheid evokes revulsion, as it should. There are undoubtedly differences between the apartheid regime in South Africa and Israel, but the thread that connects them is undeniable.”
      • The activities of Yesh Din are central to the allegations that Israeli investigative and court systems are unable or unwilling to investigate allegations of wrongdoing and is part of a wider “lawfare” strategy of pressing “war crimes” cases against Israeli officials in foreign courts and in the International Criminal Court (ICC). These campaigns use faulty information and skewed statistics to promote their political claims.
    • NDC “facilitated” and funded the “Palestinian NGO Code of Conduct,” which demands that Palestinian groups reject “any normalization activities with the occupier, neither at the political-security nor the cultural or developmental levels.”

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) Funding to International NGOs

  • Islamic Relief Sweden
    • In 2021-2026, Islamic Relief Sweden is receiving $2.2 million from Sida for projects in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
      • Islamic Relief Sweden also received $3 million in Sida funding indirectly through Forum Syd (see below).
    • Islamic Relief Sweden is part of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) and was founded by The Islamic Association in Sweden.
    • On June 19, 2014, Israel’s Defense Minister declared IRW to be illegal, based on its alleged role in funneling money to Hamas, and banned it from operating in Israel and the West Bank. Hamas is a designated terror organization by Israel, the USEU, and Canada. According to media reports, the decision was made after “the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the coordinator for government activities in the territories, and legal authorities provided incriminating information against IRW.”
    • In November 2014, the United Arab Emirates banned IRW as a terror organization.
    • In January 2016, HSBC Banking group in the UK severed ties with IRW over terror funding fears.
  • Save the Children
  • Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI)
    • In 2021-2024, SIDA is providing $1.8 million to the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI).”
    • EAPPI sends volunteers to the West Bank to “witness life under occupation.” Upon completion of the program, the volunteers return to their home countries and churches where many engage in inflammatory anti-Israel, and at times antisemetic, rhetoric and advocacy, including advocating for BDS campaigns in churches, comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany, and other delegitimization strategies.
    • Sweden sends about 20 participants on the EAPPI program annually. Upon returning to Sweden, many EAPPI activists use their experience in the West Bank to promote anti-Israel campaigns, including BDS.
  • Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
    • In 2020-2024, NRC is receiving SEK 39 million for the “West Bank Protection Consortium.”
    • In addition, NRCs receives SEK 10 million via the “Palestinian territory, occupied 2024 – NRC Humanitarian Country programmes 2021-2025.
    • One of NRC’s principle projects in Israel, “Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA),” exploits judicial frameworks to manipulate Israeli policy, bypassing democratic frameworks.
    • Included in ICLA’s program goals is “supporting the PA both locally and nationally on casework” and works with “other NRC core competences, West Bank Protection Consortium partners, and UN OCHA, as well as with local authorities and village councils.”
    • As part of the ICLA program, NRC provides “legal assistance, including paralegal services, accompaniment, follow up or court representation in order to ensure the best possible individual legal protection outcomes” in “collaboration, coordination and partnership both internally within NRC and externally with NGO sector… and with the PA with a view to address some of the barriers to participation of the hard to reach population in ICLA response.”
    • A lawyer affiliated with the NRC program stated that the objective of these cases are an attempt to “try every possible legal measure to disrupt the Israeli judicial system… as many cases as possible are registered and that as many cases as possible are appealed to increase the workload of the courts and the Supreme Court to such an extent that there will be a blockage” (emphasis added).
    • According to its 2023 ICLA project response plan, “In 2023, NRC Information, Counselling and Legal aid team (ICLA) will target 17,583 Palestinians identified as affected by conflict-related violations and protection risks such as conflict-related violence, risk of forcible transfer, restrictions on freedom of movement and access to services, including livelihoods and settler violence.”
  • European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
    • In 2023-2024, ECFR is receiving $494,672 from Sida.
    • ECFR has been one of the leading BDS advocates in Europe under the guise of a so-called “differentiation” policy. Under differentiation, ECFR lobbies the EU and European governments to adopt policies that promote silent boycott and divestment of any business activities supposedly related to Israeli “settlements built on occupied territory” on the false basis that such activities violate international law and the “domestic legal order.”
    • In December 2019, the Jerusalem Post published an article exposing that while ECFR accepts donations from donors who do business in the occupied territories of Western Sahara and Northern Cyprus, it pushes for the EU and European governments to adopt policies that promote silent boycott and divestment of any business activities supposedly related to Israeli “settlements built on occupied territory.” This reflects ECFR’s non-objective standards which single out Israel while ignoring comparable conflict situations.

Sida Funding to NGOs Active in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

OrganizationAmountProject
Palestinian Medical Relief SocietySEK 45.2 million
(2021-2024)
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Palestine (SRHR) and core support
Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, BADIL, DCI-P, B´Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Gisha and Yesh Din (Human Rights Programme)SEK 120 million
(2023-2027)
Human Rights Program/NGO Development Centre
Save the Children$3,772,800 (2017-2021)Child´s rights and Child Protection in OPT
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) SEK 27 million
(2022-2024)
Gaza Community Mental Health Program
EcoPeace Middle East$2,157,553 (2018-2020)
Islamic Relief SwedenSEK 22 million
(2021-2024)
Islamic Relief Humanitarian aid
Norwegian Refugee CouncilSEK 39 million
(2020-2023)
West Bank Protection Consortium
Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR)SEK 15 million
(2023-2025)
Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI)SEK 14 million
(2021-2023)
Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI)

Funding through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

  • In 2022, the Swedish MFA granted NIS 254,454 to Yesh Din.
    • Yesh Din regularly petitions the Israeli High Court of Justice and engages in advocacy, including briefings to foreign diplomats, to alter what it labels as “discriminatory” policies.
    • The activities of Yesh Din are central to the allegations that Israeli investigative and court systems are unable or unwilling to investigate allegations of wrongdoing and is part of a wider “lawfare” strategy of pressing “war crimes” cases against Israeli officials in foreign courts and in the International Criminal Court (ICC). These campaigns use faulty information and skewed statistics to promote their political claims.
  • In 2022, the Swedish MFA granted NIS 360,306 to Ir Amim.
    • Although Ir Amim has been described as “work[ing] toward coexistence in Jerusalem,” an Ir Amim official was quoted as saying that the group was “seeking to advance a political agenda, and was not an organization geared to promote coexistence.”
    • Ir Amim frequently accuses Israel of attempting to “Judaize” Jerusalem and promotes the Palestinian narrative on the city, including claims that “government powers are being handed over to the settler organizations” and archeological digs have become an important “tool in the fight for control” over Jerusalem.
  • In 2022, the Swedish MFA granted NIS 299,340 to Terrestrial Jerusalem.
    • Promotes a one-sided approach to the conflict, placing sole blame for the failure of the peace process on Israel. The complexities of the situation in Jerusalem are erased, including illegal building and crime in Palestinian neighborhoods, damage to the Temple Mount as a result of illegal digging by the Waqf, and incitement to violence against Jews by extremist clerics.

MFA Funding to NGOs

NGOAmountYear
Yesh DinNIS 254,4542022
NIS 177,0632021
Ir AmimNIS 360,3062022
NIS 443,7602021
NIS 261,7862020
NIS 310,2252019
Geneva InitiativeNIS 259,8752020
Terrestrial JerusalemNIS 183,1742020

Indirect Funding

Indirect Swedish Funding to NGOs Active in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

OrganizationAmount
Oxfam $538,000 (2021-2026)
Kvinna till Kvinna$2.5 million (2019-2023)
Diakonia$2.7 million (2021-2026)
We Effect$6 million (2020-2025)
ForumCiv$142,000 (2023-2029)
Olof Palme$4.1 million (2020-2025)
“Prosecution Expert”$431,305 (2018-2020)
Swedish Mission Council$558,890 (2017-2021)
$168,692 (2020)
$52,141 (2019-2020)
$30,344 (2020)
Folke Bernadotte Academy$5,081,599 (2020-2024)

Funding via the United Nations

UN-OCHA oPt Humanitarian Fund

  • In 2023, Sweden granted $3.5 million to the UN-OCHA occupied Palestinian territory Humanitarian Fund.
  • Several PFLP-linked NGOs, including UAWC, UHWC, and PCHR are regular recipients of disbursements from the “occupied Palestinian territory Humanitarian Fund.”

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the occupied Palestinian territory

  • In 2017-2020, Sweden budgeted $11.4 million to OHCHR for projects in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. Sweden does not reveal what are these projects.
  • In February 2020, OHCHR published a discriminatory blacklist of entities allegedly conducting activities in areas over the 1949 Armistice line. The database aimed at economically damaging companies that are owned by Jews or do business with Israel, and is ultimately meant to harm the Jewish state.

UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FOA)

UNICEF

  • In 2022-2027, Sweden is providing UNICEF with $692,000 “humanitarian response.”
  • UNICEF spearheads a campaign to have Israel included on a UN blacklist of “grave” violators of children’s rights. The list appears as an annex to the UN Secretary-General’s annual report on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC). This political agenda is a primary facet of UNICEF’s activities relating to Israel, completely inconsistent with its mandate of “child protection” and from its guidelines for neutrality and impartiality. (Read NGO Monitor’s report “UNICEF and its NGO Working Group: Failing Children.”)

UN Women and UNDP

  • In 2019-2025, Sweden granted SEK 134 million Bringing together the main UN entities (UNDP/UNWomen/Unicef)  “to leverage partnerships with other key bilateral and multilateral development partners, including the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO), the Office of the Middle East Quartet, the European Union (via both the Office of the EU Representative and the EUPOL COPPS mission), and lead bilateral donors in the justice and security sectors.”
  • According to UN Women, members of its “Civil Society Advisory Group” include representatives from numerous NGOs involved in delegitimization and/or BDS campaigns against Israel, including Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC), Al-Haq, PYALARA, and Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA). It is unknown if the Swedish grant is being carried out with any of these or other organizations.

Swedish Funding to the UN

OrganizationAmount
UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FOA)$42,363 (2021)
UNICEF$692,000 (2022-2027)
OCHA$1,209,588 (2018-2020)
UN-OCHA oPt Humanitarian Fund$3.5 million (2023)
UNDP$6,415,922 (2019-2020)
UNRWA$13,315,330 (2017-2020)
UN Women$1,703,751 (2020-2022)
$163,229 (2021-2022)
$1,067,784 (2021)
UNMAS$132,638 (2020-2022)
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the occupied Palestinian territory$11.4 million (2017-2020)

Footnotes

  1. Link removed. Original on file with NGO Monitor.

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