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  • Spanish funding to NGOs is highly decentralized, taking place at several levels of governance. Funds are managed and allocated by the central government, autonomous communities, provincial deputations, municipalities, and bar associations – and are usually channeled via highly politicized Spanish NGOs, reflecting deep political fissures and regional radicalization.
  • Spain provides millions of euros to highly politicized non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that promote anti-Israel narratives, including antisemitism, incitement, lawfare, and discriminatory BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) Some of these groups also have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – a designated terrorist organization by the EUUSCanada, and Israel – and were designated as terror organizations by the Israeli Ministry of Defense in 2021 over these links.
  • On June 28, 2017, NGO Monitor and ACOM presented a joint report on Spanish funding in the Spanish Parliament. At this event, MK Yair Lapid, Chair of the centrist Yesh Atid party, encouraged his counterparts in Spain to take steps to prevent counterproductive and detrimental government funding

Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID)

Palestinian NGOs funded through AECID

AECID Funding to Israeli NGOs

  • In 2020-2021, Breaking the Silence received NIS 155,262 from AECID.
    • Breaking the Silence makes sweeping accusations based on anecdotal, anonymous, and unverifiable accounts of often low-ranked soldiers. These “testimonies” lack context, are politically biased, and erase the complicated reality in the West Bank. In addition, they reflect a distorted interpretation of the conflict in order to advance the political agenda of Breaking the Silence activists, thereby fueling the international campaigns against Israel.
  • In 2020-2021, B’Tselem received NIS 59,214 from AECID.
  • In 2022, Yesh Din received NIS 534,900 from AECID.
    • Yesh Din is central to the allegations that Israeli investigative and court systems are unable or unwilling to investigate allegations of wrongdoing and is part of a wider “lawfare” strategy of pressing “war crimes” cases against Israeli officials in foreign courts and in the International Criminal Court (ICC). These campaigns use faulty information and skewed statistics to promote their political claims.
  • In 2023, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR-I) received NIS 817,000 from AECID.
    • Under the guise of medical expertise and scientific fact, PHR-I promotes distorted and false narratives, aimed at demonizing and delegitimizing Israel in the international arena.
    • In May 2023, PHR-I was a signatory on a statement blaming Israel for the death of Khader Adnan following his 86-day-long hunger strike and refusal to receive medical treatment from the Israeli Prisons Service. According to the statement, “Israel’s unjust system of arrests and detention are part and parcel of the policies used by Israel to maintain its occupation and apartheid regime.”
  • In 2023, Hamoked received NIS 808,000 from AECID.
  • In 2020-2023, Bimkom received NIS 1.9 million from AECID.
    • Bimkom regularly files petitions in an attempt to alter government policies related to spatial planning, planning procedures, and Bedouin communities.

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

  • In 2020, Spain provided NRC with $1,694,015 for NRC’s Information, Counseling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program.
  • ICLA, one of NRC’s principle projects in Israel, exploits judicial frameworks to manipulate Israeli policy, bypassing democratic frameworks.
    • A lawyer affiliated with the NRC program stated that the objective of these cases are an attempt to “try every possible legal measure to disrupt the Israeli judicial system…as many cases as possible are registered and that as many cases as possible are appealed to increase the workload of the courts and the Supreme Court to such an extent that there will be a blockage” (emphasis added)

AECID Funding to Politicized NGOs Active in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Year(s)PartnersAmount
2022-2024Association for Woman and Child Protection (AISHA)€250,000
2024Al Awda Health and Community Association$275,330
2024Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)$1.6 million
2023Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR-I)NIS 817,000
2023HaMokedNIS 808,000
2020-2022Mundubat, DCI-P, UPWC, JLAC€449,735
2019-2021UAWC€400,000
2020-2021B'TselemNIS 59,214
2020BimkomNIS 592,970
2019Ma’an Development Center€300,000
2016-2017WATC, CFTA, YMCA – East Jerusalem€586,626
2019-2020Breaking the SilenceNIS 135,808
2020B'TselemNIS 19,926
2019Yesh DinNIS 627,840
2019Kerem NavotNIS 30,861
2021Norwegian Refugee Council$609,756
2020$1,694,015
2019€500,000
2017Palestinian Center for Human Rights€250,000

Basque Autonomous Community

NGOs funded through the Basque Autonomous Community

Addameer

  • Addameer is a leader of campaigns in support of Palestinians prisoners convicted of security offenses, referring to them as “political prisoners” and altogether omitting the context of violence and terror.
  • Addameer is an “affiliate” of the  PFLP terror group. Several of Addameer’s current and former employees, as well as lawyers that work for Addameer, are linked to the terror group. For more information on Addameer’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Addameer’s Ties to the PFLP Terrorist Group.”
  • On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Addameer a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”
  • In 2022-2024, the Municipality of San Sebastian is providing the Spanish NGO SODEPAZ and Addameer with €48,147 to “guarantee the rights of Palestinian political prisoners, with special attention to former women prisoners.”
  • In 2021-2023, the Municipality of San Sebastián provided the Spanish NGO SODEPAZ and Addameer with €49,740 for a project, “Defense of the rights of Palestinian political prisoners with a global approach to human rights.” 
  • In 2021-2022, the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation (AVCD) provided Addameer with €150,000 for the “Defense of the rights of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons, with special attention to the situation caused by the covid-19 pandemic.” 
  • In 2021, AVCD provided the Spanish NGO Mundubat Foundation with €622,658 for “Reducing vulnerability and strengthening the resilience capacity of the Palestinian population of east Jerusalem.” Implementing partners include Addameer, Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), and DCI-P.
  • In 2020-2022, SODePAZ and Addameer received €48,477 from the municipality of San Sebastián to “guarantee the defense of the human rights of Palestinian political prisoners and their families within a comprehensive protection approach.”

Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) (See above)

Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC)

  • Since 2014, the Basque Autonomous Community provided at least €2 million for projects partnering with UHWC.
    • In 2019-2020, Provincial Council of Bizkaia provided €80,000 to UHWC and Paz con Dignidad for “Comprehensive Health Services for Women and Youth in Northern Gaza.”
    • In 2017-2018, AVCD provided €200,000 to UHWC and Paz con Dignidad to “improve the response capacity in emergency situations of the Al-Awda hospital in the northern area of ​​the Gaza strip.”
  • UHWC is identified by Fatah as a PFLP “affiliate” and by a USAID-engaged audit as “the PFLP’s health organization.” Numerous UHWC staff members, founders, board members, general assembly members, and senior staff members have ties to the PFLP terror group. For more information on UHWC’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Union of Health Work Committees’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”

Health Work Committees (HWC)

  • Since 2014, the Basque Autonomous Community provided at least €6 million for projects partnering with HWC.
  • In January 2020, HWC was designated by Israel as a terrorist organization,
  • On June 9, 2015, the Israel defense minister announced that the Jerusalem branch of the Health Work Committee is an unlawful association, designated as a terrorist organization by the Israel High Court of Justice (HCJ 3923/15; emphasis added).
  • Numerous HWC staff members, founders, board members, general assembly members, and senior staff members have ties to the PFLP terror group. For more information on HWC’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Health Work Committees’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
  • Walid Hanatsheh (Abu Ras), HWC’s finance and administration manager, is on trial for allegedly being the leader of PFLP “military” operations and commanding the PFLP terror cell that carried out the August 2019 bombing attack (see UAWC above). According to the indictment against him, Hanatsheh bankrolled the bombing. Following his arrest, the PFLP labeled Hanatsheh a “leader in the Popular Front.”
  • Since 2014, the Basque Autonomous Community provided at least €6 million for projects partnering with HWC.
    • In 2019-2020, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa provided HWC and SODePAZ €40,000 for “Health Care for Sick People in Emergency Departments.”
    • In 2016-2018, AVCD provided HWC and SODePAZ €200,000 for “Healthcare for chronically ill people in Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus.”

Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P) (see above)

Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees

BADIL

  • In 2020-2023, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa (Basque Autonomous Community) provided Asociación Paz con Dignidad and BADIL with €120,000 and €100,000.
  •  In December 2023, BADIL published a report, “The Palestinian People Have a Right to Armed Struggle by Virtue of their Inalienable Right to Self-Determination,” openly denying the right of Israel to exist. According to BADIL “It is important to note that the establishment of the State of Palestine on the pre-1967 borders does not realize the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, and so does not preclude the legitimacy of their collective acts in pursuit of self-determination. Rather, as long as their right to self-determination is not fully implemented by all and for all, the right to resist is activated, irrespective of whether or not a state for (some) Palestinians has been created and is gradually recognized by members of the international community” (emphasis in original).
Year(s)FunderAmountNGO(s)
2022-2024Municipality of San Sebastian€48,147SODePAZ; Addameer
2022-2023Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa€100,000Asociación Paz con Dignidad; BADIL
2021-2023Basque Agency for Development Cooperation (AVCD)€622,658Mundubat; Addameer; Union of Palestinian Women's Committees (UPWC); Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P)
2021-2023Municipality of San Sebastián€49,740SODePAZ; Addameer
2021-2022AVCD€150,000Addameer
2021-2022Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa€39,999Mundubat; UPWC
2021-2022AVCD€200,000Mundubat; UPWC
2021-2022AVCD€200,000DCI-P
2020-2022Municipality of San Sebastián€98,479PARC
2020-2022Municipality of San Sebastián€48,477SODePAZ; Addameer
2020-2021AVCD€199,998Mundubat; UPWC
2020-2021AVCD€199,998DCI-P
2020-2021Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa€120,000BADIL
2019-2021Municipality of San Sebastián€45,499Mundubat; UPWC
2019-2021Municipality of San Sebastián€50,000SODePAZ; Addameer
2019-2020Municipality of San Sebastián€17,446Mundubat; UPWC
2019-2020Provincial council of Gipuzkoa€40,000SODePAZ; HWC
2019-2020Municipality of Vitoria-Gasteiz€67,682Mundubat; DCI-P
2019-2020Provincial Council of Bizkaia€80,000Paz con Dignidad; UHWC
2019-2020AVCD€199,946Mundubat; UPWC
2019-2021AVCD€799,362Mundubat; UPWC;DCI-P; Addameer; JLAC
2018-2019AVCD€184,252Mundubat; UPWC
2018-2019Municipality of Vitoria-Gasteiz€56,999Solidaridad Internacional; Addameer
2018-2020Municipality of San Sebastián€50,000SODePAZ; Addameer
2018-2020Municipality of San Sebastián€11,630SODePAZ; HWC
2018-2019Provincial council of Gipuzkoa€120,000Paz con Dignidad; BADIL
2017-2019AVCD€180,000Addameer
2017-2018AVCD€200,000Paz con Dignidad; UHWC
2017-2018Provincial Council of Bizkaia€80,000Paz con Dignidad; UHWC
2017-2019Municipality of San Sebastián€48,643SODePAZ; Addameer
2016-2018AVCD€200,000SODePAZ; HWC
2016-2018AVCD€200,000Paz con Dignidad; UHWC
2016-2017Municipality of Vitoria-Gasteiz€68,332Solidaridad Internacional; Addameer
2016-2018Provincial council of Gipuzkoa€81,248SODePAZ; Addameer
2016-2018Municipality of San Sebastián€66,489SODePAZ; Addameer
2016-2017Provincial Council of Bizkaia€80,000Paz con Dignidad; UHWC
2015-2016Provincial Council of Bizkaia€70,000Paz con Dignidad; UHWC
2015-2019AVCD€199,988Addameer
2015-2016AVCD€200,000Paz con Dignidad; UHWC
2015-2018AVCD€800,764Mundubat; UPWC; DCI-P; LRC; AIC, Bisan, HWC
2015-2016Provincial Council of Bizkaia€7,500Mundubat; HWC
2015Provincial Council of Bizkaia€69,450Mundubat; UAWC
2015-2017Municipality of San Sebastián€69,429SODePAZ; Addameer
2014-2015AVCD€199,246Paz con Dignidad; UHWC
2014-2016AVCD€514,837Paz con Dignidad; HWC
2014-2015Municipality of Vitoria-Gasteiz€97,947Solidaridad Internacional; Addameer
2014-2015Provincial council of Gipuzkoa€23,999Mikelazulo Kultur Elkartea; UAWC
2014Municipality of Bilbao€30,000Mundubat; UAWC
2014-2015Provincial Council of Bizkaia€70,000Paz con Dignidad; UHWC
2014-2016Municipality of San Sebastián€68,921SODePAZ; PCHR

Navarre Autonomous Community

Extremadura regional government

  • In 2024, the Agency for International Development Cooperation (AEXCID) provided funding to Al-Haq (amount unknown) for a report that referred to terror attacks as “acts of struggle” and asserting that “Even if individual acts of struggle breach provisions of international humanitarian law in bello, never should the Israeli colonial power or the international community categorise the collective resistance of the Palestinian people in pursuit of their inalienable jus cogens right to self-determination as ‘terrorism’, and justify its policy of suppression accordingly.”
  • Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-orchestrated massacre, Al-Haq, has led the “genocide” accusations against Israel and has intensified its lawfare campaign in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). For more information, see NGO Monitor report “FIDH and Its PFLP-Linked Member NGOs Lead “Genocide” Accusation Against Israel.”
  • In a July 2023 letter addressed to members of the European Parliament, Al-Haq wrote, “For seven decades, Israel has imposed an apartheid regime over the Palestinian people, which constitutes a tool of the broader settler-colonial regime. Israel’s permanent occupation is yet another extension of the settler-colonial apartheid regime.” Referring to Israeli sovereignty itself, Al-Haq added, “These root causes must be dismantled before any sort of good faith negotiation can ever happen.” In the same letter, which took on a new light after the October 7th atrocities, Al-Haq also claimed that “by keeping democratically elected political parties on the EU terrorist list, the EU is perpetuating the denial of self-determination of the Palestinian people. Hamas needs to be removed from the terrorist list to ensure Palestinian internal cohesion and democracy.”
  • On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Al-Haq a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”
  • Al-Haq’s General Director Shawan Jabarin is linked to the PFLP. According to the Israeli Supreme court, Jabarin “is apparently acting as a manner of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, acting some of the time as the CEO of a human rights organization, and at other times as an activist in a terror organization.”

Andalucía Agency for International Development Cooperation (AACID)

NGOs funded through AACID and Andalusian Municipalities

In addition to AACID, Al Quds Association reports funding by local Andalusian governmental bodies to HWC, PCHR, and AIC. (See table below).

Year(s)FunderProjectAmountNGO(s)
2023Municipality of Málaga"Basic medical care in Tubas, Nablus and Qalqilya, through the provision and equipping of medical centres"€14,613HWC
2022Municipality of Málaga"Caring for people with chronic diseases and those affected by COVID-19 in Tubas, Nablus and Qalqilya, Palestine."€6,751HWC
2021Municipality of Málaga“Improved health and well-being of
the vulnerable Palestinian population
in the face of the COVID19 pandemic
in marginal areas of northern
West Bank: municipality of
Tubas and surroundings”
€10,747HWC
2021AACID“Promotion and protection of
women's rights in the Strip
from Gaza”
€109,825PCHR
2020Municipality of Málaga“Improved access to primary health care and wellness of vulnerable people in the West Bank”€14,933HWC
2019Municipality of Málaga“Right of access to medical care for the most vulnerable Palestinian population in isolated areas of Area C. West Bank (Palestine)”€14,595HWC
Provincial Council of Málaga€35,599HWC
2019Municipality of Casares“Protecting the right of access to healthcare in the Gaza Strip (Palestine)”€15,000PCHR
2018Municipality of Málaga“Strengthening capacities for comprehensive health care and reproductive and sexual health of women in rural areas of Bethlehem, West Bank”€12,297HWC
Provincial Council of Málaga€30,000HWC
2018Provincial Council of Málaga“Protection and promotion of women's rights in the Gaza Strip through access to justice, empowerment and legal defense”€20,000PCHR
2017Municipality of Málaga“Protection of women's social and reproductive rights through health care and empowerment against gender-based violence”€7,750HWC
2017Provincial Council of Málaga“Making visible the construction of bridges of dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli Human Rights defenders”€25,000AIC
2016Municipality of Málaga“Protecting the health of Palestinian women through€13,420HWC
Cancer diagnosis, prevention and treatment in the West Bank.”HWC
2016Provincial Council of Málaga“Making visible the construction of bridges of dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli Human Rights defenders”€25,000AIC

Madrid Autonomous Community

In 2019, Madrid Autonomous Community provided Alianza por la solidaridad and UHWC with €79,450 for “Strengthening of humanitarian protection mechanisms for survivors of gender-based violence in Gaza.”

Municipality of Barcelona

In 2022, the Municipality of Barcelona provided the Spanish NGO Paz con Dignidad and Addameer with €120,000.

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