How international NGOs racialise and silence Palestinian civil society

At the onset of the genocide in Gaza, I worked in the advocacy and communications department of a prominent international NGO. What I witnessed was more than complicity; it was an active erasure of Palestinian voices. The lies, gaslighting and manipulation I experienced went far beyond anything I could have imagined.

Our concerns were dismissed outright by the predominantly white regional management. They accused us of bias and even questioned our commitment to human rights and the organisation’s mission.

Despite our objections, they went ahead, prioritising the approval of donors and appeasing leaders within the organisation known for their staunch Zionist views.

But the manipulation didn’t stop there. Everything we wrote - from tweets to reports - had to go through a gruelling “sign-off process” that felt more like censorship. They even hired a white European staff member whose sole job was to edit and approve anything that came out of our department.