For half a century, Doctors Without Borders enjoyed an enviable reputation. They were known and respected for their work in war zones and disaster areas, where volunteers and employees treated the wounded and sick. Known globally as Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF, the NGO built its credibility on the principle that doctors are there to save lives, not to wage political campaigns.
That reputation is now largely gone, and like other powerful groups in the NGO industry, MSF has become a major platform for political and ideological propaganda campaigns that often accompany wars and terror atrocities.
A major new report by the NGO Monitor research institute, which I founded and lead, documents how MSF has been transformed from a medical humanitarian organization into one of the most aggressive institutional promoters of anti-Israel messaging, most notably the canard that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Since Hamas' October 7, 2023 massacre, MSF and its regional affiliates have falsely accused Israel of "genocide" at least 272 times on social media. This disturbing fact should speak for itself – genocide is not a minor rhetorical flourish. The term was coined by Polish-Jewish jurist Raphael Lemkin to describe the deliberate destruction of a people in the gas chambers and killing fields of the Holocaust. Genocide carries extraordinary moral weight. Historically, and until recently, responsible institutions and individuals have used the term with great caution.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member