Minister of Strategic Affairs Orit Farkash-Hacohen congratulated the EU on “taking a firm stance against the disingenuous campaign it faces on this issue.”
By Aryeh Savir, TPS
The Palestinian NGO “BADIL – Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights” announced that the European Union (EU) canceled a grant worth €1.7 million after BADIL refused to sign an agreement demanding the recipients refute ties to terrorism.
In January 2020, the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), of which BADIL is a member, opposed a new clause in EU grant contracts with Palestinian NGOs that prohibits grantees from working with and/or funding organizations and individuals designated on the EU’s terror lists.
PNGO claims that the terrorist organizations are “political parties.”
In May, BADIL published a paper calling the EU’s new grant clause “not only morally and politically unacceptable, but also illegal in consideration of international law.”
The grant BADIL lost was intended for the joint project “Mobilizing for Justice in Jerusalem.” The project’s aims include documenting Israeli authorities for supposed “violations” in Jerusalem.
BADIL is one of 130 Palestinian organizations refusing to sign the EU’s grant request that stipulates that beneficiaries are banned from transferring EU aid to terrorist groups or entities.
Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs (MSA) for the past year has been campaigning with EU officials for the immediate end to awarding grants to Palestinian NGOs refusing to cut ties to terrorism.
The MSA has previously exposed the ties between supposed Palestinian human rights organizations and terrorist groups.
Its report released early this year, “The Money Trail,” along with additional findings from organizations such as NGO Monitor, revealed that EU institutions have awarded millions of euros in financial aid to Palestinian civil society organizations that have ties to terrorist entities and promote boycotts against Israel.
Additionally, the MSA recently released its “Blood Money” report, showing the ties between terrorist organizations and various Israel-delegitimizing and boycott-promoting NGOs. The NGO “Addameer,” which is closely linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist group, was used as a case study. The report exposed how some terrorist organizations are whitewashing their activities and members’ pasts to gain credibility and funds from Western countries.
According to the report, 11 past and present Addameer employees served in the PFLP, some of whom are in Israeli custody for their involvement in deadly terror attacks.
The report describes these senior officials as “human rights activists by day and terrorists by night.”
For instance, the head of the PFLP terror cell who designed and detonated the bomb used in the August 2019 Dolev terror attack that killed 16-year old Israeli Rina Shnerb was Samir Arbeed. He served as Addameer’s accountant until 2017.
During Arbeed’s term, Addameer raised nearly two million euros from EU member states, including Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Spanish municipalities and the Basque government.
Minister of Strategic Affairs Orit Farkash-Hacohen congratulated the EU on “taking a firm stance against the disingenuous campaign it faces on this issue.”
Israel has been “working to ensure that the EU does not yield to the illegitimate demands of the involved Palestinian organizations and continues to insist that EU taxpayer funds should not be used to fund NGOs with ties to terror. The EU’s recent refusal is another step in the right direction,” she added.