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By

Gerald M Steinberg And Naftali Balanson

Opinion

Charity that exploits its high reputation for ethical work

September 4, 2014 15:21
2 min read

Oxfam was founded in 1942 to provide humanitarian aid around the world but it has also become a powerful political force, and the opinions (and prejudices) of its leaders are often more influential than those of many elected officials.

This is particularly true in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where Oxfam's highly biased agenda is continuing to contribute to the conflict. The efforts of the Board of Deputies to expand Oxfam's horizons beyond the standard repetition of the Palestinian victimisation narrative had no visible impact. As the Hamas terror leadership wages its latest destructive war, Oxfam continues to campaign for an "end the blockade in Gaza" - in a tendentious advert in the Sunday Times; at a demonstration in Parliament Square two weeks ago; and in numerous online blog posts. In each case, Oxfam pointedly erases the thousands of missiles and massive terror tunnels that have been Gaza's prime industries, while falsely portraying the limitations imposed by Israel as arbitrary measures that impose "misery on Palestinians in Gaza."

As a charity, Oxfam argues that these politicised tactics and ideological rhetoric are necessary to alleviate poverty, including in Gaza. But this is just a pretext. Behind the ad and the broader campaign is a political narrative and agenda, one that Oxfam has copied from Palestinian extremists and that bolsters Hamas. "Lasting peace," in Oxfam's statements, comes not from disarming Hamas and guaranteeing Israeli security, but from "lifting the blockade".

Oxfam has also "determined" that Israel is conducting "disproportionate attacks" and "collective punishment" in Gaza, and joined Amnesty International and other groups in calling for an embargo on the sale of defence technology to Israel. Similarly, Oxfam repeated the entirely unsupported and later disproven allegations that "three quarters of the dead and wounded are civilians."