"The tipping point was realizing this wasn't a series of isolated failures in a few organizations affecting a handful of employees."

"It was a systemic breakdown of values and principles within global organizations that shape democratic life -- with public trust as the real casualty -- and the situation was only getting worse."

"[The Israel/Palestine director of Human Rights Watch was] repeatedly calling the Hamas-led Ministry of Health figures reliable and credible."

Danielle Haas, executive director EiGHT

 

"Global rights NGOs operate not only as investigators and advocates, but as strategic actors seeking to shape public narratives."

"[This represents] hostile behaviour related to Jews, Israel, or Israelis [within organizations claiming to defend human rights]."

"[There is] systematic patterns of discrimination, bias, and accountability failure across the sector."

"[This 63-page report by EiGHT founded by NGO insiders is] the first independent and extensive account [of its kind]." 

EiGHT -- Insiders Speak: NGO Antisemitism, Failed Accountability, and Their effect on Social Cohesion

 

"That is how credibility dies: institutional certainty, slogan repetition, and refusal to self-correct."

"The reality is that many of these organizations now function less like watchdogs and more like unelected political parties -- powerful actors inside left-leaning public opinion but increasingly detached from rigorous standards and from the basic human rights principles they claim to defend."

Global human rights NGO staffer

Associated with Human Rights Watch for about 14 years, Danielle Haas finally left the organization in 2023 after having raised her concerns respecting methodological failures and compromised standards in an exit email. She is involved in a new report where 70 former and current staff from humanitarian and rights groups formed an alliance to educate the public on a matter that is vital to the complete understanding of the abandonment of neutral human rights issues by groups whose purpose was to defend them without fear or favour. 

 

The resulting report was subsequently filed through recognized official mechanisms, forwarded to five United Nations Special Rapporteurs along with Australia's Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. The report by NGO insiders includes interviews with affected Jews and non-Jews. They took issue with managers, staff and leaders in various NGOs who indulged in airing to the public "dehumanizing views toward Israel and Jews", a tone set from the top down.

 

Citing Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres/MSF), Greenpeace, Human Rights Watch, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mercy Corps, Plan International, Save the Children and UNICEF, the report alleges that the Internal Souk communication platform of Doctors Without Borders featured posts like "Stop playing the Jewish card"; posts accessible to 67,000 staff and association members.

 

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was publicly praised by an Amnesty International Australia staffer who spoke of him online as "Legend!!" The interviewees whose responses formed part of the report spoke anonymously in fear of backlash. Growing numbers of Jewish professionals across organizations reported concealing their identity in part, or leaving the sector altogether, with one staffer describing "soft ostracism, ghosting, quiet exclusion" instead of direct confrontation when concerns were raised.

 

Ex-press-officer Diane Richard at Plan International France questioned the organization's silence respecting the Hamas October 7 sexual violence victims. She was subjected to retaliation and subsequent dismissal. Interviewees described being "eliminated" following their concerns being raised of alleged antisemitism, and then saw the same positions reappear. A global environmental NGO in Australia saw an employee describe post-9/11 events as  "increasingly characterized by hostility toward Israel and Jews, including Holocaust comparisons, minimizing or justifying Hamas violence, and promoting BDS-related activity".

 

Yet another described "systemic pollution of international NGO spaces ... with the constant demonization of Israel, the total acquittal of Palestinian leadership, and the adoption of anti-Israel language, like genocide, intifada, settler-colonialism, etc." Complaint systems that appear designed to preserve institutional reputations were included in the report. Many of the interviewees said that concerns of alleged antisemitism, discrimination or Israel-Palestine issues were dismissed, reframed as political disagreement, or treated differently from other discriminatory complaints.

 

However, movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter warranted swift institutional responses. Staff spoke of non-disclosure agreements used as intimidation, where NDAs at Plan International and Greenpeace resulted in "marginalization, role elimination, and enforced silence".  

A boy and his mother at a clinic run by Doctors Without Borders in Gaza City in 2022. The group is one of the NGOs named for antisemitism and/or anti-Israel bias in a new report. Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

 

"Any form of antisemitism, racism, discrimination, or bigotry by MSF staff is unacceptable and fundamentally incompatible with our humanitarian principles. MSF understands how dangerous antisemitism is and we are committed to taking it seriously."

"Throughout our more than 40-year history, MSF has spoken out against abuses committed by governments and armed actors around the world whenever they have endangered patients, health-care workers, or civilians. We apply this same standard consistently, regardless of the country or parties."

"The way Israel has prosecuted this war has resulted in immense civilian suffering, repeatedly placed medical personnel and patients at risk, and severely undermined access to life-saving health care and humanitarian assistance."

"We believe these actions raise profound concerns under international humanitarian law and are incompatible with the obligation to protect civilians, medical facilities, and humanitarian workers during armed conflict."

Claudia Blume, MSF spokesperson 

Amnesty International members hold up signs calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict at an anti-Israel rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 12, 2025. In the EiGHT report, some Amnesty staffers from around the world describe being punished or frozen out after raising concerns over antisemitism or anti-Israel bias. Photo by Paula Tran/Postmedia

  

"We saw trusted, household-name NGOs becoming so infested by ideology, that they have ignored and even excused racism, violated core principles like neutrality and universalism, grown comfortable with being militant-adjacent, openly courted money from rights-abusing countries like Qatar, and pumped compromised work into the public sphere. And instead of showing concern or acting when these issues were raised, managers repeatedly and consistently ignored, denied, and excused them -- sidelining, and retaliating against people who spoke up."

"The result is that flawed or incomplete reporting infused by ideology is shaping public understanding and democratic decision-making."

"The problem isn't influence. It's influence without independent accountability. No institution that shapes democratic decision-making should be left to judge its own standards and claim rigour without being challenged. It's downright dangerous."

Danielle Haas, executive director, EiGHT