Gerald M. Steinberg. a professor of politics at
Bar Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...
, is an Israeli academic, political scientist, and political activist. He is founder and president of
NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor (Non-governmental Organization Monitor) is a right-wing non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem that reports on international NGO activity from a pro-Israel perspective.
The organization was founded in 2001 by Gerald M. St ...
, a policy analysis think tank focusing on non-governmental organizations.
Biography
Gerald Steinberg was born in the United Kingdom.
He completed a joint bachelor's degree in Physics and in Near Eastern Studies at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
in 1973, and then a master's degree in Physics at the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
in 1975. He obtained his doctorate in government from
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
, in 1981.
[Professor Gerald Steinberg Academic cv](_blank)
/ref> He began teaching at Bar Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...
in 1982, and is a professor of Political Science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
.
Steinberg has served as a consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the Israeli National Security Council. He also served as a legislative adviser to Likud Knesset Member Ze'ev Elkin
Ze'ev Elkin ( he, זְאֵב אֵלְקִין; russian: Зеэв Элькин; born 3 April 1971) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Housing and Construction. He was previously a memb ...
.
NGO Monitor
Steinberg is founder and president of the NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor (Non-governmental Organization Monitor) is a right-wing non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem that reports on international NGO activity from a pro-Israel perspective.
The organization was founded in 2001 by Gerald M. St ...
, an institute whose stated aim is "to generate and distribute critical analysis and reports on the output of the international NGO community" and "to publicize distortions of human rights issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict and provide information and context for the benefit of NGOs working in the Middle East."
Steinberg has been a longtime critic of Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
, Amnesty International, Christian Aid
Christian Aid is the relief and development agency of 41 Christian (Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox) churches in the UK and Ireland, and works to support sustainable development, eradicate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster ...
, Oxfam and other organizations that he accuses of having "contributed to the hatred, rather than supporting peace". Writing in a 2004 Jerusalem Post article he said, "HRW's press statement exposes it as a biased political organization hiding behind the rhetoric of human rights." Later he accused HRW of "exploiting the rhetoric of human rights to delegitimize Israel". Human Rights Watch accused Steinberg of "sleight of hand" in his reporting of its activities, and of ignoring its condemnations of Palestinian militant actions.
In 2014, former Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
journalist Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman ( he, מתי פרידמן) is a Canadian-Israeli journalist and author. He is an op-ed contributor for the New York Times, and columnist for Tablet magazine.
Biography
Matti Friedman was born to a Canadian Jewish family and gre ...
said that AP reporters had been banned from interviewing Steinberg and NGO Monitor. The AP denied the claim.
Court case
In January 2010, after the European Commission refused to release documents on NGO funding, Steinberg initiated legal action under the EU's Freedom of Information statutes. The court ruled that instability in the Middle East and the prospect that "such information may pose a danger to human rights groups" justified the refusal. The court further found that Steinberg's petition was "manifestly lacking any foundation in law."
Commenting on Steinberg's failed legal action, Israeli attorney Michael Sfard
Michael Sfard ( he, מיכאל ספרד; born 1972) is a lawyer and political activist specializing in international human rights law and the laws of war. He has served as counsel in various cases on these topics in Israel. Sfard has represented a ...
commented that "Steinberg invents demons and then chases them. On the way, he convinces the Europeans that the fears for the welfare of Israeli democracy are justified. All the data about the donations of foreign countries to Israeli human rights organizations are published on the Web sites of the organizations, as required by law."
Criticism
Yehudit Karp, a former Israeli deputy attorney general, charged that Steinberg published material he knew to be wrong "along with some manipulative interpretation".
Reporter Uriel Heilman commented that Steinberg played "fast and loose" with the facts by repeating comments about the New Israel Fund which Steinberg knew to be untrue. Following this comment, Steinberg acknowledged that some of his reports were poorly phrased and promised to correct them.
Writing in the Jerusalem Post, Kenneth Roth says that Steinberg displayed a "disregard for basic facts" when writing about human rights.
References
External links
NGO Monitor home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinberg, Gerald M.
Living people
Israeli political scientists
Bar-Ilan University faculty
American Jews
American emigrants to Israel
Israeli Jews
Cornell University alumni
University of California, San Diego alumni
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Israeli columnists
Bonei Zion Prize recipients
Year of birth missing (living people)