On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz declared that six Palestinian human rights groups were “terrorist organizations” and fronts for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a leftist Palestinian political faction with an armed wing. While Gantz did not publish any evidence to back up the allegations, his statement claimed that the groups in question diverted money to the PFLP for militant activity. In making the declaration, Gantz gave the Israeli military the authority to close the human rights groups’ offices, arrest their employees, and block their funding flows. The organizations in question are some of the leading Palestinian civil society groups, including the human rights investigators Al-Haq; the prisoner rights group Addameer; the Union of Agricultural Works Committees, which advocates for farmers; Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-Palestine), which defends the rights of children; the Bisan Center for Research and Development, which focuses on the rights of workers, women, and children; and the feminist group the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees. The labeling of six human rights groups as “terrorists” relied on a counterterrorism law passed by the Israeli Knesset in 2016, making this another example of Israel’s de facto annexation of the West Bank, where the groups in question operate. The move is the most dramatic escalation yet of Israel’s war on human rights groups. But to Sahar Francis, the head of Addameer, it came as little surprise. “It’s the continuation of a long harassment and smear campaign,” Francis told Jewish Currents, citing Israeli military raids of her offices and arrests of her employees. A global network of Israel advocacy organizations has long targeted the groups in question by lobbying European governments to stop funding them. The campaign rests on the fact that some of the employees of the Palestinian groups were also members of the PFLP. But to Francis, that alone is no reason to declare an entire organization a “terrorist” entity. “All Palestinian political parties, whether left, or Fatah, or right-wing like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, are declared illegal [by Israel]. Do you really expect that people here wouldn’t be members in these organizations?” said Francis. “As a human rights organization, I cannot discriminate when I hire people. I don’t ask them about their political affiliations. I don’t care what they’re doing after the daily work.” So far, the campaign to shut down funding of Palestinian civil society has not been successful. The six groups in question continue to receive funding from Europe, though last year the Dutch government froze its funding of the Union of Agricultural Works Committees after Israel arrested two employees for allegedly carrying out a bomb attack that killed a young Israeli. The campaign has also overreached; in Britain, DCI-Palestine sued the group UK Lawyers for Israel for libel after the Israel advocates claimed the human rights group was linked to the PFLP. In 2020, as part of a settlement agreement with DCI-Palestine, UK Lawyers for Israel retracted the claim, clarifying they “did not intend to suggest that the organisation has close current links, or provides any financial or material support to any terrorist organisation.” Francis said Israel turned to the “terrorism” designations because of the gains the civil society groups were making around the world. “They need to silence civil society organizations who disclose and expose their violations on a daily basis,” she said. “The success at the UN level, by publishing the names of corporations considered complicit in settlements; the fact that the ICC declared they will open an investigation—all these changes on the international level caused Israel to take these actions and to intensify their attacks on civil society.” So far, there’s no indication that the European funders of Palestinian civil society are going to withdraw their support. In a statement, the office of the European Union Representative for the West Bank and Gaza said that it was “seeking clarifications with Israeli partners” and that “past allegations of the misuse of EU funds” by Palestinian grantees “have not been substantiated.” For more on this story, I recommend reading +972 Magazine’s report. P.S. Posted today on the Jewish Currents website, I interviewed Florida congressional candidate Omari Hardy, who has taken an unusual approach to electoral politics by openly proclaiming his support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Read that interview here.  Sahar Francis, director of Addameer, speaks at a news conference in Ramallah, October 23rd, 2021. Photo: Majdi Mohammed/AP Photo |
