JERUSALEM – At its 2025 annual gathering at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor hosted a high-profile conversation titled “Human Rights Industry at a Breaking Point: US Ambassador Huckabee in conversation with NGO Monitor as the West confronts an evolving Middle East.” The evening brought together over 300 diplomats, researchers, and guests to examine what organizers called a crisis moment for the global human-rights system.
Ambassador Huckabee appeared on stage with NGO Monitor President Prof. Gerald Steinberg and Vice President Olga Deutsch. In a candid discussion, he argued that the United States must ensure its funds do not reach organizations compromised by terror. “We make sure that the U.S. taxpayer does not put any of their money into NGOs that have been complicit with Hamas and counterproductive to bringing home the hostages and ending the war,” he said, framing financial due diligence as both a moral obligation and a security necessity.
Addressing why other governments continue to support problematic groups, Huckabee suggested that ignorance plays a major role. He said some states “don’t know any better,” explaining that “a lot of what we are seeing as it relates to NGOs is ignorance. People make the assumption that if an organization calls itself a humanitarian NGO, then they must be doing God’s work. They can’t imagine that there could be an organization whose sole purpose is funneling money to bad people.” His comments echoed long-standing Israeli concerns that aid intended for civilians in Gaza has been diverted to Hamas.
The conversation focused heavily on NGO Monitor’s recent report “Puppet Regime: Hamas’ Coercive Grip on Aid and NGO Operations in Gaza.” Drawing on internal Hamas documents, the study describes how the terror group allegedly infiltrates, pressures, and co-opts international organizations working in the Strip. According to NGO Monitor, the materials reveal a “sprawling” system through which Hamas uses bureaucracy, intimidation, and parallel structures to influence project selection, staffing, and resource allocation, undercutting the neutrality that donors expect from humanitarian partners.
Steinberg told attendees that these findings illustrate a broader problem in the “human-rights industry,” where powerful actors hide behind humanitarian branding while pursuing political or military agendas. He argued that some NGOs have become de facto extensions of Hamas’ strategy rather than independent advocates for civilian welfare, and that democratic governments must reassess long-standing assumptions about the sector.
Vice President Olga Deutsch expanded on how such groups use human-rights rhetoric to wage political warfare against Israel, particularly in forums that promote boycotts and criminal proceedings targeting Israeli officials and soldiers. She contended that these efforts rarely acknowledge Israeli security threats or Hamas’ openly stated goal of destroying the Jewish state, instead applying standards that single out Israel while ignoring abuses by its adversaries.
The timing of the event, on International Human Rights Day, was deliberate. “It should be a day of honoring the principles of human rights,” Steinberg said. “But instead it has become a day of mourning, and is exploited in the most blatant ways.” He cited recurring UN resolutions and campaigns that focus disproportionately on Israel while downplaying violations by regimes that systematically deny basic freedoms.
For a pro-Israel and Zionist audience, the evening underscored several key themes. First, it reinforced the claim that Hamas has deeply penetrated aid and NGO structures in Gaza, meaning that funds directed there without strict vetting risk strengthening a terror organization rather than helping civilians. Second, it highlighted the need for Western democracies to scrutinize groups that use human-rights language as a political weapon, particularly when they seek to delegitimize Israel’s right to defend its citizens in Israel and in Judea and Samaria.
The discussion also emphasized the importance of sustained research and advocacy in this field. NGO Monitor’s work, including the “Puppet Regime” report, provides governments and donors with documentation they can use to reassess partnerships and design safeguards that limit the influence of Hamas and similar actors. For many attendees, Ambassador Huckabee’s remarks signaled that at least some Western policymakers are prepared to confront these issues publicly rather than treating them as technical disputes.
By the end of the evening, the message from the stage was clear: confronting the exploitation of human-rights discourse and NGO frameworks is now a central front in defending both Israeli security and the integrity of international humanitarian work. The organizers presented their findings and the ambassador’s pledges as part of a broader effort to ensure that “human rights” once again means protecting civilians from terror, not shielding those who commit it.
