NPR backtracks on Gaza NGO quote, correcting “re-register” to “de-register” in report on Israel’s aid restrictions
NPR has amended a Gaza/West Bank aid story after misquoting a key source in a way that flipped the meaning of Israel’s new policy toward international NGOs. In its October 22 piece, “Israel takes steps to shut down international aid groups in Gaza and the West Bank,” the outlet originally quoted the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Jerusalem communications manager, Ivan Karakashian, as saying the process appeared designed to “re-register” groups. NPR now says Karakashian actually asserted the intent was to “de-register” them — a very different claim about Israel’s aims.
The article details how Israel, after barring UNRWA from moving staff and supplies into Gaza, has required INGOs to apply under new criteria overseen in part by ministries that include the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. Aid groups say approvals have stalled, trucks are idling in Egypt and Jordan, and at least one U.S.-based NGO has been de-registered pending appeal. Israel, which argues tightened screening is necessary for security and to curb support for terrorist organizations, has approved a handful of groups outside the usual UN-led coordination system; COGAT did not respond to NPR’s questions.
The correction matters because “re-register” can read as process-heavy but routine, implying a bureaucratic refresh aligned with a cease-fire pledge to surge aid; “de-register,” by contrast, asserts a deliberate move to strip operating permissions and shrink the pool of established humanitarian actors. That shift in wording reframes the policy from administrative control to ideological exclusion, directly affecting how readers assess Israel’s compliance with court opinions urging unimpeded humanitarian access, and whether bottlenecks are the product of red tape or a strategy to recast who counts as a legitimate aid provider.
NPR also reported that the International Court of Justice said Israel must allow UN agencies and other organizations to deliver aid and may not invoke security concerns to suspend it; Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the opinion as political. Meanwhile, UNRWA remains barred, leaving its 12,000 Gazan staff sidelined while warehouses in Jordan and Egypt hold stockpiles of food, medical supplies, tents, and hygiene kits. Mercy Corps told NPR its own shipment request was denied because its re-registration is pending — exactly the context in which misquoting de-register as re-register softens the alleged policy impact.