European governments for 20 years continue to invest in PFLP-linked NGOs , severely exploiting their taxpayers’ money.
By Rachel Avraham
Israel Today recently reported that there has been international outrage following the designation of six Palestinian NGOs as terror organizations. The six so called humanitarian nonprofits listed are the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, ADDAMEER-Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association; Bisan Center for Research and Development; Al Haq Organization; and Defense for Children International (DCI).
While Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and numerous other actors in the international community and the foreign media were highly critical of the decision, much of this criticism is unfounded. Yona Schiffmiller, head of research at NGO Monitor, an organization that monitors anti-Israel NGOs, indicated in an interview with Israel Today that much of this criticism is based upon inaccurate information: “I think there is a wealth of publicly available information on the links between these groups and the PFLP.”
“We had EU investigations into the terror financing of these organizations,” he noted. “The PFLP itself has made a number of statements stating their affiliation with these groups. There is a wealth of information showing this. I would urge everyone to look at all of the publicly available information that shows the connection between the PFLP and these groups. The only critical issue is that the Europeans and other international actors have been bankrolling them for years. This shows how crucial it is to have a robust mechanism in place to vet where the money is going.”
According to the NGO Monitor website, “these NGOs diverted humanitarian funds from European donors to the PFLP and recruited members into the terror group. Relatedly, a security official told Israel’s N12 news site on October 23 that these NGOs provided a funding “lifeline” for the PFLP, employed PFLP terrorists, and that PFLP terror operatives used NGO offices for meetings. Until 2015, the PFLP’s English website promoted DCI-P, Addameer, and UPWC, and directed visitors to their own websites.”
NGO Monitor further added: “These links were further highlighted following the arrest of PFLP officials charged with the August 26, 2019 bombing that murdered Israeli 17 year-old Rina Shnerb, and wounded her father and brother. Samer Arbid- who served as UAWC’s accountant at the time of his 2019 arrests and as Addameer’s accountant until at least 2015 was indicted on 21 counts, including for commanding the cell that carried out the attack.”
According to NGO Monitor, “Representatives from Al-Haq, UAWC, Addameer, UPWC, and Bisan participated in a May 2019 PFLP gathering in Ramallah – including Samer Arbid and other NGO officials detained in connection to the August 2019 attack.” The PFLP considers Arbid to be a “prisoner and commander, and one of the heroes of the Bubeen operation.” Nor was Arbid the only PFLP member active in these NGOs.
NGO Monitor claims that numerous individuals who have had links to the PFLP have been “employed or appointed as board members of DCI.” Hashem Abu Maria, the coordinator of the Defense for Children International coordinator of the Palestinian community’s mobilization unit, was referred to as a PFLP leader by the terror group and was killed in clashes with the IDF in 2014. Nasser Ibrahim was formerly the president of DCI-P’s General Assembly and at the same time was the editor of the PFLP weekly paper Al Hadaf. Mary Rock was a DCI board member and a PFLP candidate for the Palestine Legislative Council.
The Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, otherwise known as the UPWC, was identified by Fatah to “an official affiliate” and US AID called them an affiliate of the PFLP. As of 2020, Suhair Khader was the vice president of the UPWC and also a member of the Central Committee of the PFLP. Samer Abdil Alim, who headed the organization in the Rafah area and is on the NGO’s board, is also on the Central Committee of the PFLP. Ismat Shakhshir, who heads the UPWC is the Nablus area, in 2006 ran for the Palestinian Legislative Council on the PFLP ticket.
According to Fatah, Addameer is also an affiliate of the PFLP: “Several of Addameer’s current and former employees, as well as lawyers that work for Addameer, have links to the PFLP.” Some of these members include Abdul-Latif Ghaith, Addameer’s Founder and former Chairperson, and PFLP “activist;” Khalida Jarrar, Addameer’s former Vice-chairperson and the “head of the PFLP in the West Bank; and Bashir Al-Khairi, a member of Addameer’s Board of Directors, is referred to as a “member of PFLP’s National Council.” According to NGO Monitor, “As an organization, Addameer regularly provides legal assistance to Palestinians accused by Israel of PFLP membership or activity on behalf of the terror group, such as PFLP General-Secretary Ahmed Sa’adat.”
In 2018, Master Card, Visa and American Express denied users the ability to donate to Al Haq due to their connections to the PFLP. According to NGO Monitor, “Al-Haq’s General Director Shawan Jabaran has ties to the PFLP terrorist organization and, as a result, has been denied exit visas by Israel and Jordan. In May 2019, Shawan Jabarin attended a memorial event organized by the PFLP. It centered on PFLP political bureau member Rabah Muhanna, who, according to information posted by the PFLP, “contributed to the establishment” of several PFLP-affiliated NGOs. The hall was decorated with PFLP paraphernalia. Jabarin was convicted in 1985 for recruiting and arranging training for members for the PFLP. A 1994 Israeli statement to the UN notes that he ‘had not discontinued his terrorist involvement and maintains his position in the leadership of the PFLP.’” The Israeli Supreme Court has labeled him to be a senior level activist for the PFLP.
Bisan Center for Research and Development is headed by Ubai Aboudi, who was sentenced in 2020 to 12 months imprisonment for membership in the PFLP between 2016 and 2019: “He was responsible for recruiting activists to the organization and strengthening its infrastructure.” Meanwhile, USAID refers to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees as the “agricultural arm of the PFLP and is identified by Fatah as an affiliate. Abdul Razeq Farraj was UAWC’s Finance and Administration Director when he was arrested for attempting to cause a death and for recruiting new members to the PFLP in 2019. Ubai Aboudi, their monitoring and evaluation officer, served 12 months in jail for recruiting PFLP members.
While some in the West are in denial, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine member Kayed Al Ghoul took full responsibility for the connection between his terror group and these Palestinian NGOs: “the Palestinian people are proud of the affiliation of any of their sons to any national faction that resists the occupation, and in this context, whoever belongs to the Popular Front is a source of great pride and honor for him.”
It is critical to recall that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a terror organization that is responsible for slaughtering countless Israeli civilians. Founded by George Habash in 1967, the terror group is responsible for the assassination of the late Israeli Tourism Minister Rechavim Ze’evi in 2001,the massacre that slaughtered the Fogel family in 2011, a massacre at a Har Nof synagogue in 2014 that killed a Druze police officer and four worshippers, and the hijacking of an Air France Tel Aviv-bound flight in 1976 that landed in Entebbe, whose passengers were for the most part rescued yet not without the terrorists murdering the commander of the rescue mission, Yoni Netanyahu, the brother of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with three other hostages.
Professor Gerald Steinberg, President of NGO Monitor, stated in a recent press release: “Although the PFLP is a declared terrorist organization in the United States, Israel, Canada, and the European Union, many European governments have continued to invest in PFLP-linked NGOs for 20 years, severely exploiting their taxpayers’ money. These recurring cases point to a widespread phenomenon, and it is time for Europeans to freeze grants and set up independent mechanisms for evaluating funding for NGOs.”
