EU Envoy Meets With 6 PFLP-Linked NGOs Listed by Israel as Terror Organizations

The European Union’s Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Sven Koopmans and a number of representatives from European countries met with representatives of the six organizations that were listed as terror organizations by Israel’s Ministry of Defense due to their ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group, in apparent defiance of Israel.

“These organizations are part of a network of organizations operating undercover in the international arena on behalf of the PFLP to support its activities and advance its goals,” the Defense Ministry explained when declaring them terror organizations on Friday.

The six are the Women’s Committee, the Adameer Legal Institute, the Bissan Research Institute, the Alhak organization, the World Movement for Child Protection – Palestine Branch (DCI-P) and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC).

However, Koopmans clarified during the meeting on Monday that the EU “takes this very seriously and is seeking clarifications with Israeli partners.”

“Past allegations of the misuse of EU funds by certain Palestinian civil society organization partners have not been substantiated,” he alleged, reiterating that the EU “will continue to stand by international law and support CSOs that play in promoting international humanitarian law, human rights, and democratic values.”

Anne Herzberg, a human rights lawyer and NGO Monitor’s Legal Advisor and U.N. Representative, accused Koopmans of making “a self-serving and unsubstantiated claim about ‘past allegations’ but providing no further information.”

“To what allegations are you referring? What, if any, investigations were conducted?” she demanded.

NGO Monitor has extensive documentation of the ties between the PFLP and these six organizations.

Based on months of investigations, the Defense Ministry concluded that the six declared organizations “serve as a cover for promoting and financing the activities of the PFLP. In accordance with the guidelines of the organization’s headquarters, their affiliation with the organization was hidden for security reasons for fear of enforcement measures being taken by security bodies in Israel and around the world.”

The terrorist cell that carried out the bombing at Ein Danny in August 2019 in which Rina Shnerb, Hy”d, was killed and her father Eitan and brother Dvir were seriously injured, were all members of the PFLP’s civic organizations.

For example, Abdul Razaq Farraj and Samer Arabid, two Arab terror suspects involved in the August 2019 bomb attack were paid from Dutch taxes, Minister of Foreign Affairs Stef Blok and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag admitted to the Dutch House of Representatives in July 2020.

Between 2013 and 2020, the UAWC has received approximately $20 million from Holland.