After the UJFP’s publicly funded anti-Israel activities were exposed, the French government cut off financial support for the group.
By: United with Israel Staff
The French government recently ended its funding to Jewish French Union for Peace (UJFP), a radical anti-Israel, and some say anti-Semitic, organization.
NGO Monitor, a watchdog that monitors non-governmental organization that operate against Israel, in October found that UJFP was receiving funding from the French government for a project against racism, a project called “A Jewish Word Against Racism: Producing Tools-Public Meetings.”
Abusing their government funds, UJFP published a book demonizing Israel and making false accusations against Israel and France. They also produced video clips that compare Zionism to Nazism and alleging that Zionism is anti-Semitic.
NGO Monitor alerted French parliamentarians, Jewish organizations, and journalists regarding this troubling use of taxpayer funds. Parliamentarians submitted parliamentary questions and inquiries on this issue, and NGO Monitor’s research was published in the well-known French magazine Causeur.
Following NGO Monitor’s campaign, the French government earlier this month asked that its logo be removed from the UJFP website, halted the grant, and demanded the return of funding that was already disbursed (20,000 Euro) and used to produce the clips.
“Once again, we exposed the pattern by which governments fund NGOs without the necessary oversight or due diligence,” the NGO Monitor stated.
UJFP was established in 1994, allegedly to further the “will for a Jewish expression on the conditions of a just peace in the Middle East.” UJFP describes itself as “a Jewish and secular organization that includes Jewish and non-Jewish members with diversified histories and experiences.”
UJFP supports BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns against Israel, despite the fact that such boycotts are illegal under French law.
France’s highest appeals court in October 2015 ruled the that anti-Israel BDS activities are a form of incitement and hate crime, and upheld fines imposed on BDS activists who were found guilty of “inciting hate or discrimination” by promoting a boycott of the Jewish state.