NGO Monitor Letter to Norwegian MFA Regarding Norwegian Funding to Terror Linked NGOs
NGO Monitor Letter to Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of International Development Dag-Inge Ulstein
Dear Minister Eriksen Søreide,
Dear Minister Ulstein,
In our previous letter (July 11, 2020), we alerted you to evidence that Norwegian government grantees are linked to a terrorist organization. We write to you now to inform you of an important, related development in the Netherlands.
On July 20, the Dutch government announced it was freezing funding to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) over its close links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), designated as a terrorist organization by the EU and others. Foreign Minister Stef Blok and Development Minister Sigrid Kaag revealed that an internal government audit concluded that Dutch funds were used to pay the salaries of two individuals arrested for murder.
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is providing the PFLP-linked Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) with NOK 70.4 million for “Civil Society influence for reduced inequality in Palestine”.
Senior UAWC employees, including financial officers, were among those arrested for their roles in a 50-person terror cell that operated in the West Bank. Several are currently on trial for their direct involvement in an August 2019 bombing attack in which a 17-year-old Israeli was murdered.
- Samer Arbid, UAWC accountant and previously UAWC “financial officer” (formerly Addameer’s accountant). Arbid is on trial for commanding the PFLP terror cell that carried out the bombing. According to the indictment (on file), Arbid prepared and detonated the explosive device.
- Abdel Razeq Farraj, UAWC “Finance and Administration Director.” According to his indictment (on file), Razeq Farraj held a senior PFLP post and authorized the August 2019 bombing. He is currently standing trial.
We urge you to immediately freeze any funds that may be going to UAWC or other terror-linked NGOs, launch an investigation into previous grants to UAWC, and implement robust vetting mechanisms to ensure that terror-linked NGOs do not receive taxpayer funds.
Sincerely,
Prof Gerald M. Steinberg
President
Related Articles
Union of Agricultural Work Committees' Ties to the PFLP Terror Group
Numerous UAWC staff members, founders, board members, general assembly members, and senior staff members have ties to the PFLP terror group. UAWC is identified by Fatah as an official Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) “affiliate” and by a USAID-engaged audit as the “agricultural arm” of the PFLP. According to academic scholar Glenn E. Robinson, UAWC was founded in 1986 by “agronomists loosely affiliated with the PFLP.”
