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Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) CEO Sacha Roytman issued a statement on Tuesday after the Israeli government announced the halting of Oxfam operations in the Gaza Strip on February 28.
The announcement by the Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism came after former CEO of Oxfam Great Britain Halima Begum accused the global humanitarian charity of having a “toxic antisemitic culture.”
She also said Oxfam was “disproportionately” focused on the situation in Gaza, and revealed she had been pressured to label Israel’s actions there as a “genocide.”
“To use the word ‘genocide,’ it has to be something we arrive at with consultation and evidence and good legal advice, and to try and use that term before we are ready as an organization feels quite risky to me,” Begum told Channel 4 in the UK in an interview last week.
Roytman commented:
“This story speaks to a wider problem in the NGO and humanitarian community, which has long held the world’s one Jewish state to a different standard, clearly meeting the IHRA definition of antisemitism.”
“There has been a clear rush to use the term ‘genocide’ without sufficient factual basis, and by those without the relevant expertise, alongside a clear disproportionate fixation on Israel stretching back many years. All of this points to a dangerous politicization and obsession with Israel inside significant parts of the NGO sector.”
“For too long, certain international organizations have rushed to level the most extreme accusations against Israel while failing to clearly and unequivocally condemn Hamas’s October 7 massacre, the documented mass sexual violence, and the terrorist group’s openly genocidal ideology put into action.”
“Humanitarian credibility cannot survive selective outrage and narrative-driven advocacy. The NGO community must urgently restore standards of neutrality, evidence, and moral consistency, or risk further eroding global trust and fueling antisemitism under the banner of human rights.”
“We were disproportionately working around the crisis in Gaza.”
Helima Begum, former CEO of Oxfam GB, revealed in a new Channel 4 News interview that Oxfam’s coverage of Gaza wasn’t neutral.
She said the organization was constantly pushing to use the word ‘genocide’ before it… pic.twitter.com/5xEADpg9ct
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) February 14, 2026
