The government plans to send Foreign Ministry and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) representatives to Washington in the coming days to provide further intelligence on how six Palestinian NGOs, claiming to be human rights groups, funneled funds to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, designated a terrorist group by Israel, the US, the EU and more.
A senior diplomatic-security source said the case against the organizations – Addameer, Al Haq, Bisan Center, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), Union Of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) – is “cast in concrete,” and provided The Jerusalem Post with parts of the intelligence the Shin Bet representative plans to show Washington, which the source argued show an “unambiguous and direct” connection between the NGOs in question and the PFLP.
The Justice and Defense ministries issued documents on Friday classifying the six Palestinian NGOs as branches of the PFLP. US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said soon after that the US supports a strong civil society and respect for human rights, and will “be engaging our Israeli partners for more information regarding the basis for these designations.” However, senior Israeli defense sources said that the US had been informed in advance of the move to ban the groups.
Israel is aware of the significance of banning civil society groups, the source said, but the PFLP had adopted a modus operandi of using such groups to launder funding for terror activities.
Leave a Reply