Criticism and Controversies Surrounding Unreliable B’Tselem

Criticism and Controversies Surrounding Unreliable B’Tselem.

Over the years, the Israeli NGO B'Tselem has faced extensive criticism from journalists, politicians, activists, researchers, and advocacy organizations who accuse it of political bias, manipulation of facts, cooperation with anti-Israel campaigns, and reliance on foreign funding.

A 2008 article in Ynet titled “Collaborating with the enemy” criticized B’Tselem’s camera distribution project among Palestinians, claiming the organization selectively documented Israeli misconduct while ignoring Palestinian violence. The article described the initiative as part of a “propaganda cooperation with the enemy” and accused activists of orchestrating “photogenic provocations” against Israeli soldiers and settlers.

In another Ynet opinion article from 2016, “A wakeup call for the left,” criticism intensified around left-wing activism associated with figures such as Ezra Nawi. The article argued that parts of the Israeli left had moved from opposing occupation policies to opposing Israel itself, accusing some activists of demonization rather than criticism.

Coverage in 2009 by Ruthie Avraham discussed support given by senior left-wing figures to activist Ezra Nawi after his conviction for assaulting police officers and reminding his sexual crimes like molesting minor. The report highlighted statements from former Deputy Attorney General Yehudit Karp defending Nawi and describing him as a “redeemer and savior.”

B’Tselem has also been repeatedly criticized over the reliability of its casualty statistics and investigative methods. A 2008 article titled “Bending the truth” accuses that B’Tselem classified Palestinian militants involved in deadly attacks against Israelis as “civilians killed by Israeli security forces.” The article cited examples including Abdul Salaam Sadek Hassouneh and members of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

Following the 2014 Gaza war, reports in The Jerusalem Post stated that both NGO Monitor and the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Center refuted B’Tselem’s methodology for verifying casualty figures. Additional criticism came when Israel’s National-Civilian Service administration barred B’Tselem from participation, with officials accusing the organization of spreading falsehoods about Israel and the IDF internationally.

Another 2014 Ynet piece, “Holocaust deniers in B’Tselem,” accused the organization of contributing to anti-Israel and antisemitic narratives. The article focused on researcher Atef Abu a-Rub, a Holocaust denier, and accused B’Tselem personnel of portraying Israel through comparisons to Nazi crimes and false genocide accusations.

Jonathan D. Halevi wrote in 2015 that B’Tselem “manipulates and distorts facts to defame Israel,” criticizing executive director Hagai El-Ad for falsely accusing Israel and the IDF of deliberate war crimes during Operation Protective Edge.

That same year, Arab Palestinian activist Bassam Eid contrasted his own human rights work with B’Tselem’s activities. Eid said his organization focused on abuses committed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, while criticizing the imbalance among Israeli and Palestinian rights organizations.

Israeli [rather leftis] politician Yair Lapid sharply attacked B’Tselem in a 2016 article titled “B’Tselem’s lies.” Lapid described one of the organization’s Gaza reports as “incitement” and accused it of using distorted casualty figures to delegitimize Israel internationally.

Questions regarding B’Tselem’s labeling of militants also surfaced in 2017, when Ynet reported that several Palestinians identified by Israel’s Shin Bet as terrorists were not designated as such on the organization’s website.

B’Tselem’s international advocacy work has generated additional controversy. In 2017, Hagai El-Ad called on European governments and NGOs to pressure Israel in connection with UN Security Council Resolution 2334. In 2018, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman called for a criminal investigation into B’Tselem after the organization told Israeli soldiers not to shoot at Palestinians near the Gaza border fence, despite IDF's targeting terri4rusts using them.

The issue of foreign funding has been central to many criticisms. A 2018 Ynet article points out that NGOs such as B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, and Yesh Din exercised disproportionate political influence through extensive European government financing. A later 2021 Jerusalem Post report detailed funding from European governments and private foundations to Israeli NGOs supporting International Criminal Court investigations into Israel. According to the report, approximately half of B’Tselem’s funding between 2017 and 2019 came from foreign governments.

Ezra Nawi again became the subject of controversy in 2018 when Ynet reported that he was indicted for providing the Palestinian Authority security services with information about Palestinians involved in land sales to Jews.

Criticism also emerged from within Israeli academia. In 2019, recordings showed anti-Israel bias against international students at the Hebrew University by professor Daphna Golan, identified as a co-founder of B’Tselem.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, COGAT accused B’Tselem of “exploiting coronavirus” after the organization claimed the IDF had destroyed a Palestinian coronavirus treatment center in the Jordan Valley.

In 2021, B’Tselem faced backlash after characterizing Israel as a supposed apartheid state. Critics including Israeli-Arab Yoseph Haddad reminded that the accusation ignored the participation of Arab citizens throughout Israeli society and distorted the meaning of apartheid.

The same year, settlers announced legal action against B’Tselem over its claims that Israelis had set Palestinian agricultural fields on fire. 

Separately, two B’Tselem activists, including Arab photographer Imad Abu Shamsiyya, were arrested on accusation of torching land in the West Bank.

Articles throughout 2021 and 2023 accused left-wing NGOs of disproportionately focusing on claims of alleged Jewish settler violence while minimizing [factual] Arab Palestinian attacks. Other commentators argued that B’Tselem’s apartheid accusations fueled anti-Israel campaigns on university campuses and in international advocacy movements.

Following the [Hamad Islamic Palestinian regime's - genocidal] October 7 attacks and the Gaza war, criticism intensified further. A 2023 Jerusalem Post article reported calls to pressure Israeli banks to close B’Tselem accounts because of accusations that donations to the organization harmed Israel and IDF soldiers.

In 2024, a former B’Tselem employee filed suit accusing he was fired after opposing the organization’s support for a Gaza ceasefire call.

That same year, an outrageous erupted when demanding UN action on plight of hostages held in Gaza was 'conditional' on a "balance" from Be'tselem. The UN Security Council invited B’Tselem executive director Yuli Novak to address a session concerning Palestinian conditions alongside testimony regarding Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

A May 2024 Jerusalem Post analysis reminded that terms such as “genocide,” “apartheid,” and “colonialism” had become modern blood libels against Israel and Jews, accusing that organizations including B’Tselem helped popularize those narratives internationally.

In October 2024, NGO Monitor published a detailed critique of B’Tselem’s investigative practices following an Israeli court ruling in a defamation case involving a B’Tselem report. It came afte the court concluded that allegations regarding the kidnapping and abuse of a Palestinian youth “did not occur” as described. NGO Monitor argued that court documents exposed serious flaws in B’Tselem’s verification procedures, alleging that Palestinian testimonies were frequently published without independent corroboration.

Debates surrounding foreign political funding continued into 2025. A Jerusalem Post article supporting proposed legislation to tax foreign donations to Israeli NGOs cited figures claiming that B’Tselem had received more than NIS 83 million from foreign sources between 2012 and 2024.

In 2026, commentary in the Jerusalem Post revisited a 1994 statement by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin asserting that organizations such as B’Tselem constrained Israel’s ability to combat terrorism through legal and public advocacy pressures.

References:

* Reuters. “Collaborating with the enemy.” Ynet News. July 25, 2008. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3573110,00.html

* Ben-Dror Yemini. “A wakeup call for the left.” Ynet News. January 15, 2016. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4753465,00.html

* Ruthie Avraham. “Yehudit Karp: Criminal Ezra Navi is the ‘redeemer and savior’.” News1. August 27, 2009. https://archive.is/2013.06.18-084510/http://www.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-212040-00.html ; https://archive.is/QB4aI

* Reuters. “Case closed: ‘IDF did not commit war crimes in Gaza’.” Ynet News. May 2, 2012. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4223449,00.html

* “Bending the truth.” Ynet News. September 24, 2008. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3601691,00.html

* “B'Tselem's Gaza war statistics under fire.” The Jerusalem Post. August 20, 2014. https://www.jpost.com/operation-protective-edge/btselems-gaza-war-statistics-under-fire-by-right-wing-israeli-groups-371590

* “B'Tselem banned from National-Civilian Service.” The Jerusalem Post. August 14, 2014. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/btselem-banned-from-national-civilian-service-371117

* “Holocaust deniers in B'Tselem.” Ynet News. August 31, 2014. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4565828,00.html

* Jonathan D. Halevi. “B’Tselem manipulates and distorts facts to defame Israel.” Jewish News Syndicate. January 26, 2015. https://www.jns.org/israel-news/btselem-manipulates-and-distorts-facts-to-defame-israel

* Reuters. “The Palestinian who opposes the boycott against Israel.” Ynet News. October 6, 2015. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4667098,00.html

* Yair Lapid. “B’Tselem’s lies.” The Jerusalem Post. September 22, 2016. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/btselems-lies-468488

* “B'Tselem's site fails to label some terrorists as terrorists.” Ynet News. April 5, 2017. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4957400,00.html

* “B'Tselem calls on Europe to work toward ending ‘occupation’.” The Jerusalem Post. June 4, 2017. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/btselem-calls-on-europe-to-work-toward-ending-occupation-494726

* “Defense Minister calls for criminal probe of B’Tselem.” The Jerusalem Post. April 9, 2018. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-minister-calls-for-criminal-probe-of-btselem-549207

* Gerald Steinberg. “Foreign-funded NGOs, political power and democratic legitimacy.” Ynet News. June 3, 2018. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5277618,00.html

* Yael Friedson. “Israeli who snitched to PA on W.Bank land sales to Jews charged.” Ynet News. July 15, 2018. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/5310587

* Shlomo Pyuterkovsky. “New Israel Fund a ‘neutral body’? Don’t make me laugh.” Ynet News. August 11, 2018. https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/5001237

* “B'Tselem head: I'm not a traitor; Israeli envoy: You're a collaborator.” The Jerusalem Post. October 19, 2018. https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/btselem-address-un-security-council-on-gaza-khan-al-ahmar-569721

* “Recordings show anti-Israel bias towards international students at the Hebrew University.” Jewish News Syndicate. May 20, 2019. https://www.jns.org/antisemitism/recordings-reveal-extreme-anti-israel-bias-in-hus-international-graduate-program

* “COGAT slams B'Tselem for ‘exploiting coronavirus’.” The Jerusalem Post. March 26, 2020. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/cogat-slams-btselem-for-exploiting-coronavirus-622474

* Lahav Harkov. “EU countries gave NIS 50m. to Israeli NGOs supporting war crimes charges.” The Jerusalem Post. March 9, 2021. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/eu-countries-gave-nis-50-m-to-israeli-ngos-supporting-war-crimes-charges-661323

* “Settlers to sue B'Tselem for alleging they set Palestinian fields ablaze.” The Jerusalem Post. May 5, 2021. https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/settlers-to-sue-btselem-for-alleging-they-set-palestinian-fields-ablaze-667300

* Yoseph Haddad. “No, Israel is not an apartheid state.” Ynet News. June 26, 2021. https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/BkwP4gGnO

* “B'Tselem activists arrested for torching land in West Bank.” The Jerusalem Post. June 28, 2021. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/btselem-activists-arrested-for-torching-land-in-west-bank-672249 ; “2 B'Tselem Activists Arrested for Torching Israeli-owned Land.” TPS-IL. June 28, 2021. https://tps.co.il/articles/2-btselem-activists-arrested-for-torching-israeli-owned-land

* Akiva Lam. “Left-wing groups use settlers as excuse to disparage Israel.” Ynet News. December 3, 2021. https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/h1mtqqnuy

* Hannah Kirsch. “The lies and libels of Israeli Apartheid Week.” Jewish News Syndicate. May 7, 2023. https://www.jns.org/opinion/hannah-kirsch/the-lies-and-libels-of-israeli-apartheid-week

* “Israeli banks offer services to NGOs that cause harm to IDF - influencer.” The Jerusalem Post. October 24, 2023. https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/banking-and-finance/article-769348

* “Ex-B'Tselem employee says NGO fired him for opposing a ceasefire call.” The Jerusalem Post. March 21, 2024. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-793058

* Itamar Eichner. “UN’s ‘balance’ condition sparks outrage ahead of Hamas hostage discussion.” Ynet News. April 9, 2024. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hkre2xi2r

* Ohad Merlin. “Blood Libels of today's generation - analysis.” The Jerusalem Post. May 16, 2024. https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-801408

* “B’Tselem’s False Information and Flawed Methodology: Court Ruling Spotlights NGO ‘Investigations’.” NGO Monitor. October 8, 2024. https://ngo-monitor.org/reports/btselems-false-information-and-flawed-methodology-court-ruling-spotlights-ngo-investigations/

* “Israel's new law taxing foreign donations to Israeli NGOs is welcome.” The Jerusalem Post. May 13, 2025. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-853679

* Avi Abelow. “Israel projects strength abroad but struggles to protect its citizens at home - opinion.” The Jerusalem Post. April 18, 2026. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-893076