Protecting NGO aid from terror hijacking - opinion

In recent weeks, Israel has faced an organized campaign of condemnation over revisions to the humanitarian visa and NGO registration process that had not been changed since 1967. Amnesty International branded the rules “arbitrary.”

Over 100 NGOs accused Israel of “weaponizing aid.” The UN and other alliances warned of restrictions aimed at silencing criticism. Palestinian NGO networks even called the measures a “political tool.” EU foreign ministers echoed all of these one-sided attacks.

The script is familiar: international outrage, Israel cast as villain, and the NGO “halo effect” that prevents serious oversight. However, this is a smokescreen for the core question: What must be done to ensure that aid reaches civilians instead of being hijacked by terrorists?

The record is clear. Aid has long been diverted to Hamas. UNRWA warehouses have doubled as weapons depots. Internationally supplied materials sent through NGOs have been stolen to build terror tunnels and thousands of rockets – every one a war crime. Food and fuel meant for civilians have been seized by terrorists.

If Israel failed to vet humanitarian access, that would be the worst kind of negligence. Any responsible government confronting a heinous terror army embedded within the civilian population must balance urgent humanitarian needs with the imperative to block supplies from fueling mass murder, sexual violence, torture, and hostage-taking.

Instead of reckoning with this reality, the NGO aid industry and its allies have defaulted to self-interested outrage. They describe Israel’s decision to update an outdated visa regime as sinister, as if the only objective is to block aid and silence legitimate criticism.

But what measures have they taken to ensure accountability? Where is the introspection about their own failures that allowed Hamas to siphon off resources? The truth: there is no reckoning. Rather than working to stop diversion, these groups launched yet another propaganda campaign demonizing Israel.

Some of the world’s most “respected” aid organizations – Amnesty International, Oxfam, World Vision, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) – have partnered with or defended groups linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terror organization.

World Vision’s Gaza manager was convicted of diverting tens of millions of dollars in aid to Hamas. The publicly available evidence (analyzed by NGO Monitor) exposed how vulnerable aid pipelines are.

Oxfam and NRC have repeatedly signed joint statements with NGOs whose leaders are affiliated with the outlawed PFLP. Amnesty has also campaigned alongside PFLP-linked groups, treating them as legitimate partners.

These are not fringe actors, and they are funded by governments. Yet time and again, they give political or operational cover to groups with terror ties. Their outrage over Israel’s new visa criteria, therefore, rings hollow.

One requirement highlights the hypocrisy: staff name disclosure. For years, NGOs cooperated with and submitted employee lists to Hamas authorities. They accepted this as the cost of operating in Gaza and maintaining the flow of funds.

Now, they accuse Israel of authoritarian and arbitrary policies for asking them to provide the same information as part of a broader application process. The contradiction is glaring: If providing names to a terror regime was acceptable, why is providing them to a democratic state defending itself against terror intolerable? What are they afraid of?

Israel’s updated visa regime, after years of blatant NGO and UN oversight failure, is a necessary step to ensure that humanitarian actors are accountable, transparent, and subject to basic anti-terror safeguards.

NGOs might have seized this opportunity for good-faith reform, including serious safeguards that place aid to civilians above ideology. Instead, they chose outrage and political theater.

This core issue is the demand that the humanitarian sector operate responsibly in areas controlled by terror regimes. At NGO Monitor, we have examined the behavior of numerous NGOs for over two decades. The evidence is overwhelming: the sector repeatedly fails to provide basic transparency and accountability. Israel’s visa reforms are a response to that reality.

The outrage is artificial and diverts attention from the essential question: What measures are necessary to ensure aid reaches those in need? The attempt by the NGO and UN aid industry to continue business as usual, with the resulting diversion to terror, only highlights the vital need for the revised Israeli registration process.