EU-Funded Illegal Arab Structures Were Built by Convicted Terrorist, Says Watchdog

“The EU needs to end its sick obsession with the Jewish state and stop funding anti-Israel projects and NGOs,” said Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg.

By Eytan Meir, Im Tirtzu

The European Union funded illegal structures in the Gush Etzion region of Samaria that were built by a convicted terrorist, the pro-Israel watchdog group Im Tirtzu revealed on Wednesday.

Rizq Salah, who in 1990 murdered IDF soldier Guy Friedman, was released by Israel in 2013 as part of a US-mediated initiative to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

In 2019, Ynet reported that Salah was given permission by Israel’s Civil Administration to cultivate land in Gush Etzion near the Jewish community of Netiv Ha’avot.

Im Tirtzu’s Arab Desk has now revealed that Salah erected illegal structures that bear the logo of the European Union. The structures also bear the logos of Oxfam, a global anti-poverty movement that boycotts Israel, and the Rural Women’s Development Society, a Palestinian NGO.

According to Im Tirtzu, representatives from Israel’s Civil Administration acknowledged that the structures built by Salah were indeed illegal and needed to be demolished.

Many in Israel have long decried the European Union’s funding of illegal Palestinian construction in Area C of Judea and Samaria, which critics view as a means to establish a de facto Palestinian state.

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg blasted the EU and called on the Civil Administration to immediately demolish the illegal structures.

“This is yet another instance in which the European Union is using the hard-earned taxes of its citizens in order to harm Israel’s security,” said Peleg.

“The EU needs to end its sick obsession with the Jewish state and stop funding anti-Israel projects and NGOs. Israel is not a punching bag for the EU to take out its anti-Semitic aggression on.”

“We call on the Civil Administration to immediately demolish these structures and put an end to the rampant illegal construction in Area C,” he said, referring to Israeli-administered territories as per the Oslo Accords.

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