Saturday 23 October 2021
UN “alerted”
Israel declares six NGOs to be terrorist groups
Human rights activists are outraged: Israel declares six well-known non-governmental organizations from the Palestinian territories to be terrorist groups. According to the Israeli Defense Ministry, the organizations were only supposedly non-profit making, but were in fact part of a terrorist network.
The Israeli government has classified six influential Palestinian non-governmental organizations as “terrorist organizations”. The quasi-ban on the organizations sparked sharp criticism from the Palestinian Authority and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International. The UN human rights office in the Palestinian Territories was “alarmed” by the decision. The Israeli Defense Ministry accuses the six organizations of covert cooperation with the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Accordingly, humanitarian aid from Europe also flowed into the activities of the PFLP. Affected by the classification are the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), Addameer, Al-Hak, the Union of Committees for Agricultural Work (UAWC), the Bisan Center for Research and Development, and the Palestinian section of Defense for Children International (DCI -P). According to the Israeli Defense Ministry, the six organizations form a network that is covertly “active on behalf of the PFLP” in order to “support its activities and advance its goals”.
The groups are allegedly non-profit organizations. In fact, they are “controlled by high-ranking representatives of the PFLP”. Among her employees are also numerous PFLP members, “including activists who were involved in terrorist activities”.
According to the ministry’s statement, the six organizations used humanitarian aid received from European governments as a “central source of funding for PFLP activities”. Defense Minister Benny Gantz called on governments and organizations around the world to “refrain from contact with organizations and groups that fuel the flames of terror”.
“Disturbing attack on civil society”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the classification of the organizations as “terrorist” and as a “disturbing attack on Palestinian civil society and defenders of human rights”. The UN human rights office in the Palestinian Territories was “alarmed” at the move. It accused Israel of “prolonged stigmatization campaigns against these and other organizations” which were thereby adversely affected in “their important work”.
The US government was cautious: The US would first ask its “Israeli partners” for more information, said the State Department spokesman, Ned Price. Washington had not been informed of the move in advance. The US government generally believes that “respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and a strong civil society are vital,” he added.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called the Israeli government’s decision “appalling and unjust”. Classification as “terrorist” would “effectively prohibit” the organizations’ activities, according to a joint statement by the organizations. Israeli-based human rights organizations also denounced the Defense Ministry’s decision. The Arab-Israeli organization Adalah spoke of an “unprecedented attack”, as it is common “in totalitarian and colonial regimes”. The classification of the organizations as “terrorist” marks a “political persecution under the guise of anti-terrorist laws”.
The affected Palestinian organizations have long been in the focus of the Israeli security authorities. The Israeli domestic secret service Schin Bet said in May that there was evidence that the organizations had “defrauded and deceived” several European countries, including Germany. Millions of euros in aid have flowed into the “militant terrorist activities of the PFLP”. The PFLP is also classified as a “terrorist organization” by the EU.