No evidence that Palestinian NGOs are terrorists

The news that nine member states of the European Union have refused to accept the classification of six Palestinian non-governmental organisations as "terrorists" has gone almost unnoticed. So much so that I myself found out about it thanks to the weekly news bulletin of the European Jewish Press, directed with great objectivity by the Jew Yossi Lempkowicz.

This is no small matter: Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain have jointly rejected Israel's labelling of six NGOs as "terrorists", citing "insufficient evidence" that this is the case. They are the human rights organisations Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense for Children International-Palestine, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Union of Palestinian Women's Committees and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees. All of them are accused by Israel of being linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a far-left Marxist movement, which has both a political and an armed wing, that has indeed carried out deadly attacks against Israeli citizens. 

It is true that the European Union has for years considered the PFLP a terrorist organisation, but the inclusion under its umbrella of the six NGOs mentioned above seems to the nine countries to be excessive, since, despite having demanded that it support the accusation with hard evidence, Israel has failed to provide it. Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz has repeatedly insisted that these organisations, taking advantage of the guise of international organisations, "benefit from the [economic] aid of European states in a fraudulent manner".

This accusation is contradicted by the communiqué of the nine EU countries, whose joint statement notes that 'we have not received any substantial information from Israel that would justify a review of our policy towards the six NGOs that Israel has labelled as terrorist organisations'. 

The communiqué notes that, in the absence of evidence of the allegations to prove this, "we will continue our policy of cooperation". The nine European governments that sign the communiqué also state that "a free and strong civil society is absolutely indispensable for the promotion of democratic values in view of an eventual two-state solution". 

On the Palestinian side, they consider this statement to be "a setback to the systematic Israeli policy of disqualifying those who do not subscribe to its postulates, and in the case of these six NGOs they feel particularly annoyed because of their international credibility and because they are the most active in denouncing Israel's war crimes before the International Criminal Court". Of course, none of these NGOs are sympathetic to the Palestinian Authority (PA) of President Mahmoud Abbas, but that does not mean that they are therefore an unqualified arm of the PFLP.  

This is not the view of the government and many institutions in Israel. Among the latter, the NGO Monitor, whose president, Gerald Steinberg, accuses the aforementioned European countries of 'ignoring the numerous examples that would attest to the terrorist character of Palestinian NGOs'. Steinberg, who subscribes to the accusations made last year by Benny Gantz, has reaffirmed his willingness to investigate and publish all details showing the PFLP's links to these organisations and their connections to their European network, arguing that EU contributions to such organisations constitute a taxpayer scam. 

With their statement now, the nine EU countries cited ignore Gantz's blunt appeal in October 2021: "I call on all countries and international organisations to support us in this fight and to avoid contact with the companies and organisations to which they release materials that they then use in terrorist attacks". 

It may be a coincidence, but it is striking that this incident coincides in time with the recently released United Nations report that 78 Palestinian children were killed and 982 severely maimed by the Israel Defense Forces in 2021. Commenting on this, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated bluntly that "Israel could be blacklisted if it persists in its violent behaviour against Palestinian children", reports Middle East Eye.

On the margins of major international gatherings - President Biden's tour is the latest example - the many daily tragedies persist, with Palestinian and Jewish perspectives far from converging.