The Paris-based EuroMed Feminist Initiative (EFI)1 describes itself as a “policy platform” seeking “an egalitarian and demilitarized world where respect of human rights of women and men is a leading value and practice and where the principle of non- discrimination – based on gender, sexual orientation, age, class, ethnicity, disabilities – is social rule and life.” The EFI umbrella framework, with 16 members, receives significant funding from European governments, notably the European Union, France, and Sweden – as detailed below.

Individuals who serve on EFI’s board and a number of EFI member organizations have published statements justifying and celebrating the October 7th attack, calling to annihilate Israel, denying Hamas atrocities, and promoting antisemitic imagery. Additionally, in multiple statements, EFI itself has labeled Israeli operations “tantamount to the destruction of the population of Gaza” and joined the propaganda campaign falsely claiming that “today Gaza [sic] population is facing a large-scale massacre and genocide.”

EFI board members serve in senior positions at NGOs in several Middle Eastern countries (Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, West Bank and Gaza, and Turkey). These local NGOs also receive funding from European governments and from EFI.

Furthermore, an EFI member NGO is “the women’s framework” of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), an Israeli-designated terror organization that participated with Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the October 7 attacks. This NGO regularly posts pictures of DFLP activists wearing military gear and DFLP paraphernalia.

EFI Funding

EFI is not transparent regarding its finances. Information from government sources shows that the NGO receives significant funding from the European Union, France, and Sweden. Its member organizations are also funded by European governments, as detailed below:

European Union

The EU Financial Transparency System lists €10.6 million to EFI-implemented projects for 2015-2026.

On April 28, 2024, EFI announced that it is a partner on a €4 million EU project “Improving access to gender-sensitive prevention and protection services for vulnerable communities in Jordan.” The amount allocated to EFI is not stated. 

France

According to the French government’s development agency (AFD), EFI is participating in a €3.5 million AFD-funded project, in 2023-2026, designed to “Strengthen[] Feminist CSOs working in the Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.”

Sweden

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is providing EFI with $8.7 million in 2021-2024.  

The logos of the official Spanish and German aid and development agencies also appear on EFI publications from 2024, indicating support from these countries. Details are not readily available. 

Celebration and justification of the October 7th massacre by EFI board members and member organizations 

Several EFI board members and EFI member organizations have publicly celebrated the October 7th massacre and engaged in atrocity inversion.

Amal Khreishe (PWWSD) 

EFI board member Amal Khreishe serves also as General Manager at  Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD), an EFI member NGO.

On October 7, 8, and 10 2023, Khreishe published several posts (see below) that celebrated Hamas massacre, describing the October 7th terror invasion as “A morning of glory and pride.” Khreishe further stated that “October 7th shall remain a unique symbol of a special step in the path of national liberation.”

  • On October 7, 2023, Khreishe shared a video of what seems to be Hamas terrorists on a boat shooting at an Israeli navy vessel, and shared a text she published on Al-Wattan on the same day, “And the flood shall reach all corners of the nation and sweep away all the Oslo delusions from the Land of Palestine….Today, October 7th, the waves of dignity and pride will spread throughout the nation’s skies. Today, the flood of Jerusalem will sink the disorder that is called the occupation state which considers itself above international and humanitarian law and human rights law. Today, the resistance sends a message to all the men and women martyrs who have embraced the costly nation and that are still in the freezers of the Zionist government…October 7th shall remain a unique symbol of a special step in the path of national liberation. May the brains, hearts, hands and legs that drew the features of this day be blessed…Allah has truly commended you, the flood of Gaza, and we shall see it in time.” (emphases added) 
  • On October 8, 2023, Khreishe shared a video showing images in support of the Hamas-led attacks and featuring a man explaining that the events of October 7th present “a true victory…accomplished by the Palestinian resistance by occupying, or liberating, the [Israeli] cities adjacent to the Gaza Strip…” Khreishe posted, “A morning of glory and pride. A morning of our people’s rebellious will force to break free…A morning of resistance…[and of] voices which do not know political stammer and which call the consciences to wake up with resistance in its various forms. I want to paint all of my male and female friends’ day with rainbow from the Galilee to Rafah, throughout the skies of historic Palestine, so that joy and hope will spread in the hearts and entirely to the bottom of the souls as happened to me on this morning of October 8th after ‘the mighty October 7th.’ And [I wish well] to Gaza, the resistance forces that made the epic Jerusalem flood, which brought out history, geography and political conceptions in all their theories and interpretations, from the path of dullness, illusions, oppression and night blindness of the Zionist politicians, their followers and their allies in the region and the world.” (emphases added)

Khreishe shared a video lauding the October 7th attack and depicting Hamas fighters paragliding next to the Dome of the Rock.

  • On October 10, 2023, Khreishe shared an illustration of a Palestinian boy making the symbol of victory with the text “a morning of dignity and honor” and posted, “The resistance and its great flood which it unleashed in order to wash away the occupier’s vanity and disputed friends’ normalization and the racism of countries that call for democracy and respecting human rights day and night…This is a chance that shall not come again, to bring back the legitimacy of the political regime that rests on a revolutionary and liberation perspective…Allah has indeed told the heroes of Jenin, Nablus, Beita and Gaza and the camps, and the list goes on, the message of the men and women martyrs. This is because all the people shall not lose the combative compass, despite of the heavy fog of Oslo that has been going on for 30 years. Will you answer the heartbeat of the people?! The time of premises [about peace] has passed and the only things that are absolutely everlasting are the comrades and brothers [a euphemism for members of terror groups]. Today, the resistance rests on the blood and minds of the youth, revived by the oxygen of revolution.” (emphases added)

PWWSD Funding

PWWSD does not publish annual reports but lists many governmental partners, including the European Union, France (Agence Française de Développement), Germany (GIZ), the Netherlands, Norway (NORAD), Italy (Agency for International Development), and UN frameworks (United Nations Population Fund, UNDP, UN Women).

Leila El Ali (Association Najdeh)

EFI board co-president  Leila El Ali serves also as director of the Lebanon-based Association Najdeh, an EFI member NGO.

  • On October 14, 2023, El Ali shared a video clip denying October 7 Hamas atrocities against the Israelis. The video states that  “Netanyahu is a liar, this is a well-known fact even for the majority of Israelis. Biden is either a fool or a collaborator in spreading Netanyahu’s lies. Both are leading an orchestrated campaign of fabrication in order to demonize the Palestinian and justify the war of genocide against Gaza.” (emphasis added)

The video clip spreads false claims by “white supremacist” Jackson Hinkle, known as a “viral misinformation spreader and anti-Israel activist,” who alleged that images of babies murdered burnt bodies published by Israel Prime Minister were “AI-generated fake image!” 

  • On April 2, 2024, El Ali posted on Facebook an antisemitic cartoon portraying Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a devil drinking blood from Gaza.

  • On November 14, 2023, El Ali published a drawing of a gun representing Israel being held to the head of a Palestinian baby. 

  • On November 6, 2023, El Ali published a post “Gaza is your grave” with a video of an Israeli officer showing a refrigerated container in which bodies of murdered Israeli civilians were stored before burial.

Najdeh Funding

Najdeh lists several governmental and NGO donors on its website, including Canada, Brot für die Welt (Germany), Switzerland, Diakonia (Sweden), Oxfam, Norwegian People Aid, Save the Children, and EFI. 

  • EU – According to the EU Financial Transparency System, in 2019-2022, Association Najdeh was a partner on a €3.2 million EU grant.
  • Switzerland – In 2023-2025, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is providing CHF 7.3 million to the UNICEF Transition and Resilience Education Fund (TREF) in Lebanon, of which Najdeh is an implementing partner.
  • France – France is also providing €14.7 million, via AFD, to TREF.
  • In 2019-2023, AFD provided Minka Peace and Resilience Fund with €9.4 million for “SHABAKE – CAPACITY-BUILDING PROGRAM FOR CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS” (co-funded by DANIDA for DKK30 million). Najdeh was one of twelve implementing partners. 
  • Najdeh is an implementing partner for the EFI-led French-funded project (€3.5 million in 2023-2026, see above). 

Najdeh’s celebration of October 7 and indoctrination of children 

Children holding signs in support of Hamas’ attack, one of them reads, “Every year, Palestine gets closer to freedom.”

Children holding signs in support of Hamas’ attack. The signs read, “This land cannot be divided for two people. Its us or us” and “Palestine is ours and shall remain ours.”

Children holding signs in support of Hamas’ attack. The signs read: “victory is ours,” “Al-Aqsa flood,” and “glory to Gaza,”

Children holding signs in support of Hamas’ attack. one of the signs reads: “Al-Aqsa flood, dignity and respect.”

Children holding signs in support of Hamas’ attack. one of the signs reads: “Gaza is your dignity.”

Children holding a sign in support of Hamas’ attack, which reads, “ save the date 7.10.2023.”

Children holding a sign in support of Hamas’ attack, which reads, “ The heroes – Palestine will prevail.”

Layla Naffa (Arab Women Organization of Jordan)

EFI’s board member Layla Naffa also serves as Director of Programmes at the Arab Women Organization of Jordan, an EFI member NGO.

On December 23, 2023, Naffa addressed a gathering of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine – designated as a terrorist organization by Israel – in Jordan.  She “criticized the American and Western discourse on Israel’s right[s], because the attacking occupier does not have the right to put itself in the victim category. Naffa was resolved that the Jordanian-Israeli treaty should be revoked and relations with Israel should be severed” (emphasis added),

  • In January 2024, the Arab Women Organization of Jordan was a signatory of an “urgent appeal” addressed to UN Women and denying October 7 sexual atrocities. In this appeal, the signatory organization claimed that “the statement of the UN Women, condemning unconfirmed allegations of sexual assault on October 7th, endorsing the Israeli narrative that has been proven false.”

Arab Women Organization of Jordan Funding

Arab Women Organization of Jordan lists several European governmental donors on its website, including the EU, Germany (GIZ), Spain (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation), and Italy (Italian Agency for Development Cooperation), as well as EFI.

According to GIZ, in 2023, Arab Women Organization of Jordan was an implementing partner on a project “Promoting conflict resolution mechanisms and creating prospects for vulnerable groups and regions” (amount unknown). 

In May 2024, the Arab Women Organization of Jordan organized a national conference on “The reality of political and economic participation for women and young women and future aspirations in Jordan” as part of a German-funded project titled “Enhancing the political and economic participation of women in Jordan.”

Azza Kamel

EFI’s board member Azza Kamel also serves as the founder and chair of Egypt-based Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development Center (ACT), an EFI member NGO

  • On October 7, 2023, Kamel posted a picture of Palestinian flags and celebrated the Hamas invasion, writing, “Wave high, so high. It is mighty great.”

  • On October 24, 2023, Kamel published a blog in which she wrote, “Palestine will remain Arab from the river to the sea, and the Palestinian people are the true resistance to the tyranny of the occupation, and the whole world must know that the Al-Aqsa flood will revive the Palestinian cause and bring back its steadfastness. It will draw a new map for the whole region and a [new] path for the great powers conduct its dealings with it.”
  • On November 14, 2023, Kamel wrote, “…The Palestinians did not sell their land, but the world has joined in alliance against them, and achieving international security and the security of Israel has become conditioned on the killing and expelling of innocent Palestinians…Why do the Palestinians pay the price of the victims of the Nazis, those who Israel trade with?! Why are the ones who have money, weapons and the right to carry out genocide falsely named as those who defend their land? Isn’t Israel actually Nazism in its ugliest form?! Why are the Palestinians paying the price for crimes that they did not commit?!” 

Palestinian Federation of Women’s Action Committees

The Palestinian Federation of Women’s Action Committees (PFWAC) is an NGO member of EFI. PFWAC was an implementing partner for the EFI-led EU-funded project “Combating Violence against Women in the Southern Mediterranean Region” (€3.2 million in 2019-2022).  

PFWAC is “the women’s framework of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine [DFLP]” (see also here and here), an Israeli-designated terror organization that participated with Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the October 7 attacks.

The NGO has not been particularly active on social media since October 7. However, previously, it made several posts highlighting its proximity to the DFLP armed group.  

The following screenshots from 2023 are taken from PFWAC’s Facebook account.