Author: David Orenstein
Date: January 9, 2026
 

Introduction

In an effort to prevent the “exploitation of humanitarian frameworks for terrorist purposes” and “to protect its [Israel’s] sovereignty, its citizens and the integrity of humanitarian action,” Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry announced on Tuesday, December 30, 2025 that the licenses of 37 international nonprofits working in Gaza and the West Bank would expire on January 1, 2026.
 

These international nonprofits include the faith-based relief organizations American Friends Service Committee, Caritas Jerusalem, Mercy Corps, Near East Council of Churches, and World Vision International. These humanitarian organizations have:

• Expressed sympathy for and justified Palestinian violence against the Jewish State.

• Collaborated with organizations that have employed antisemitic tropes and platformed terrorists.

• Supported the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel while delegitimizing the Jewish State.

• Promoted falsehoods and misrepresentations about the State of Israel.
   

The Vatican News article, “Gaza: Caritas Italy offers full support to Caritas Jerusalem,” quotes Caritas Italiana deputy director Silvia Sinibaldi as indicating that “this [Israeli] decision is absolutely surprising and shocking.” However, the decision should not have come as a shock given that Israel had informed these international nonprofits in March 2025 that failure to comply with Israeli registration requirements within 10 months would result in this outcome. In the same Vatican News article, The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is quoted as responding: “In Israel, Caritas Jerusalem is an ‘ecclesiastical legal person,’ whose status and mission have been recognized by the State of Israel through the 1993 Fundamental Agreement and the subsequent 1997 Legal Personality Agreement, signed between the Holy See and the State of Israel.”
 

In his statement, the Latin Patriarchate omits relevant parts of the Fundamental Agreement that render Israel’s position understandable. Article 3 of the Fundamental Agreement states, “The Church recognizes the right of the State [of Israel] to carry out its functions, such as promoting and protecting the welfare and the safety of the people.” Similarly, Article 9 asserts “the right of the Catholic Church to carry out its charitable functions through its health care and social welfare institutions” is to be “exercised in harmony with the rights of the State in this field.” Moreover, Article 11 relates the Church’s “commitment to the promotion of the peaceful resolution of conflicts among States and nations, excluding violence and terror from international life.”
 

The above passages from the Fundamental Agreement recognize Israel’s right to protect its citizens and indicate that the Church must conduct itself in a manner consistent with Israel’s exercising of its legitimate rights. Israel is not seeking to prohibit the Church from providing legitimate health care and social welfare but rather seeking to ensure that terrorist organizations do not exploit these activities and endanger innocent human lives. Therefore, Israel’s registration requirements should not be viewed as violations of agreements signed between the Holy See and the State of Israel.
 

In addition to these responses from Caritas Italiana and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, 53 international humanitarian aid organizations issued a joint letter falsely charging that Israel has adopted measures that “breach humanitarian principles,” “obstruct humanitarian assistance at scale,” and violate “a legal obligation [of humanitarian access] under international humanitarian law.” These charges, however, are baseless.
 

Israel’s Facilitation of Gaza Humanitarian Aid

According to a Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) statement issued on December 30, 2025, none of the organizations whose licenses expired had provided aid in the Gaza Strip throughout the duration of the current ceasefire. Moreover, the combined percentage of total aid these organizations had provided in the Gaza Strip before the ceasefire began only amounted to approximately “1% of the total aid volume” entering the territory.

Addressing claims that Israel is effectively obstructing the delivery of humanitarian assistance to residents of the Gaza Strip, COGAT notes:

[T]he implementation of the government decision will not result in any future harm to the volume of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip. In line with this, 4,200 trucks will continue to enter every week via the UN, donor countries, the private sector, and more than 20 international organizations that operate lawfully and continue to bring aid into Gaza in a full and ongoing manner.

Further underscoring Israel’s efforts to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance, the COGAT statement stresses that the Jewish State “routinely facilitates the entry and rotation of international teams into the Gaza Strip in accordance with requests from approved international organizations and subject to prior security screening.”
 

Legitimate Israeli Concerns About Terrorist Exploitation of Humanitarian Assistance

The COGAT statement also notes that Israeli concerns that terrorist organizations could exploit the aid are not theoretical, but rather based on documented cases of members of terrorist organizations doing precisely that through “diversion of aid, the use of local employees for terrorist purposes, and the transfer of funds from terror-linked sources.” In a recent report, Israel indicated that the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders employed an individual, Fadi Al-Wadiya, who was a senior operative of the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad.  Another individual employed by the organization, Mahmoud Abunejeila, expressed support for the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
 

Humanitarian Organizations with an Anti-Israel Animus

While Israel’s report detailed problems with Doctors Without Borders, the following analysis delineates problems associated with the faith-based relief organizations American Friends Service Committee, Caritas Jerusalem, Mercy Corps, Near East Council of Churches, and World Vision International. These organizations are included among the 37 international NGOs Israel notified concerning the requirement to stop operating in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem following a 60-day period beginning Jan. 1, 2026.

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Sympathizing with and Justifying Palestinian Violence against Israel

Despite the organization’s professed commitment to “working for a more just, peaceful world,” the AFSC in the 1970s distributed pamphlets that “expressed sympathy for Palestinian violence” against the Jewish State (Peace and Faith: Christian Churches and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, p. 67).

In a July 20, 2018 article, Palestine-Israel Program Director Merryman-Lotze justified Palestinian violence directed at Israel:

In a situation where basic rights are systematically denied to Palestinians, where military occupation denies Palestinians their right to self-determination, and where the systems set up to control Palestinians are enforced through violence and state power, there must be an expectation that some Palestinians will respond through resort to violence. Indeed, international law allows Palestinians to resist occupation through resort to force.

Collaborating with Organizations That Have Employed Antisemitic Tropes, Platformed Terrorists, and Funded a Terrorist-Linked NGO

Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)

AFSC has partnered with extremist organizations, like JVP, which has used antisemitic tropes, defending individuals who have propagated contemporary blood libels and made allegations about Jewish dual loyalty (Contending with Antisemitism in a Rapidly Changing Political Climate, pp. 113-133) while platforming terrorists, like the PFLP-affiliated supermarket bomber Rasmea Odeh.

Grassroots International

In 2023, the AFSC received $10,000 from Grassroots International, which funded an NGO with links to the PFLP.

Supporting the BDS Movement Targeting Israel

The AFSC has expressed support for the BDS movement targeting Israel on numerous occasions. For example, the AFSC cosponsored with JVP a 2013 “BDS Summer Institute” aimed at promoting the BDS movement whose leaders have sought to delegitimize the State of Israel (Peace and Faith, p. 67). In addition, AFSC’s Director of Economic Activism, Dalit Baum, also co-founded a website that helped the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) justify divesting from Israel (Peace and Faith, p. 371.).

Promoting Falsehoods about Israel

A May 2020 AFSC blog post falsely claimed that an Israeli sniper deliberately killed a 21-year-old female medical volunteer, Razan Najjar, despite a New York Times article having attributed her death to being hit by shrapnel from a ricocheting bullet.

A January 2021 AFSC webinar falsely claimed Israel is legally obligated to provide vaccines to Palestinians despite the Oslo Accords having designated the PA as responsible for providing health care to Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza.

Caritas Jerusalem

Collaborating with Terrorist-Linked Organizations

Society of St. Yves

In March 2022, Caritas Jerusalem convened an “awareness meeting” featuring Society of St. Yves, whose advocacy department head, Raed Halabi, was convicted in 2011 for organizing for the PFLP.

Al-Haq and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)

In 2017, Caritas Jerusalem Executive Director Sister Bridget Tighe appeared in the documentary This is Palestine, which credits Al-Haq and PCHR as “partners.” Both Al-Haq and PCHR reportedly have links to the PFLP.

Promoting Falsehoods and Misrepresentations about Israel

The aforementioned This is Palestine documentary features falsehoods about the State of Israel with regard to Palestinian water access.

The 2014 Caritas Internationalis Annual Report misleadingly claims that Israel built a barrier to “to separate Jews from Palestinians.” In fact, Israel constructed the barrier to prevent suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks targeting Israeli civilians.

Delegitimizing the State of Israel

Caritas Jerusalem signed an “Open Letter” from the National Coalition of Christian Organizations in Palestine to the World Council of Churches (WCC) that called on the WCC to “recognize Israel as an apartheid state” and “unequivocally condemn the Balfour Declaration as unjust.” By falsely casting Israel as a racist state and condemning as unjust a document articulating an international legal basis for a national home for the Jewish people, Caritas Jerusalem has effectively delegitimized the Jewish State.

Mercy Corps

Praising Terrorist Supporters and Depending on Terrorist Organizations

Yasser Arafat

CAMERA has previously noted that a co-founder of Mercy Corps, Dan O’Neill, has described former Palestinian leader and terrorist supporter Yasser Arafat in glowing terms.

Hamas

A UN description of a 2022 Mercy Corps Gaza project indicated Mercy Corps’ dependence “on the Hamas-controlled MoSD [(Ministry of Social Development)] to identify beneficiaries.”

Near East Council of Churches

Coordinating with Terrorist Organizations

In October 2019, the Near East Council of Churches Committee for Refugee Work met with a delegation from the terrorist organization Hamas.

World Vision International

Collaborating with Terrorist and Terrorist-Linked Organizations

Hamas

In June 2016, Israel’s Shin Bet arrested World Vision’s manager of Gaza operations, Mohammed El-Halabi, who was charged “with diverting $50 million to terrorist organizations for construction of tunnels and other terrorist activity.” The indictment against him indicated that he “used fictitious humanitarian projects and agricultural associations to act as a cover for the hijacking of monies and materials to [the terrorist organization] Hamas.” In June 2022, El-Halabi was convicted by the Be’er Sheva District Court for “diverting aid money and resources from World Vision to Hamas.”

In November 2021, the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits petitioned the Jerusalem District Court to dissolve World Vision’s Israeli branch following a multi-year investigation that led the Registrar to conclude “the local non-profit did not implement humanitarian projects as it claimed to and conducted financial transactions for purposes other than its stated goals—including providing funds to Hamas,” while “checks belonging to the non-profit were found in the possession of Hamas operatives.”

In September 2024, the Israeli Ministry of Justice indicated that an audit process found “significant deficiencies […] in the association, such as the transfer of the group’s assets to entities linked to terrorism, and more.”

Hezbollah

World Vision’s former head of Palestinian operations, Tom Getman, has referred to members of Hezbollah—a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish State—as his “friends” whose guidance he has sought in developing his views of the Jewish State.

Defense for Children—International (DCI)

In October 2017, World Vision participated in a DCI conference. DCI has employed multiple people with alleged links to the PFLP.

Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA)

In December 2020, the Oversight and Investigations Unit of the Senate Finance Committee released a memo about its investigation into a World Vision project in Sudan that reviewed World Vision’s entrance into a contract with ISRA, an organization with “an extensive history of supporting terrorist organization[s] and terrorists.” The committee’s investigation concluded:

[T]his failure [on the part of World Vision] occurred because World Vision’s system for vetting prospective sub-grantees was borderline negligent and ignored elementary level investigative procedures, such as failing to conduct basic secondary research that is widely available to the public on the internet via free search engines.

Juzoor

In 2022-2025, World Vision and Juzoor were partners tasked with implementing a €1 million German-funded project (“Enhanced access to Mental Health Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Services for Vulnerable Communities in Areas C and B in the West Bank”). In 2007-2014, Juzoor maintained Jerusalem Youth Parliament (JYP), which platformed convicted terrorists, PFLP members, and their family members. Staff members of JYP also promoted the PFLP and celebrated its terrorist members.

Supporting BDS Movement Targeting Israel

Multiple individuals associated with the Israeli branch of World Vision have promoted BDS, including its financial manager, Sami Khoury; board member, Raffoul Rofa; and board of directors member, Anton Asfar.

Conclusion

The State of Israel has indicated it will allow organizations to continue delivering humanitarian assistance to innocent residents of the Gaza Strip. The aforementioned organizations whose licenses have expired have expressed sympathy for and justified Palestinian violence against the Jewish State, collaborated with organizations that have employed antisemitic tropes and platformed terrorists, supported the BDS movement targeting Israel while delegitimizing the Jewish State, and promoted falsehoods and misrepresentations about the State of Israel. Give these facts, narratives that cast Israel’s registration requirements as responsible for endangering innocent lives in the Gaza Strip are false and unjustified.