Introduction

For years, Al-Haq, a Palestinian NGO linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – an internationally designated terrorist organization – has pursued a strategy seeking to eliminate Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people and to legitimize violent attacks against its citizens.  

There are three primary elements to Al-Haq’s strategy:

  • Delegitimizing Israel and calling for the country to be “dismantled”;
  • Highly troubling statements, comments, and posts relating to justifying violence against Israeli civilians, as well as advocating for Hamas to be removed from the EU terror list;
  • Advancing international lawfare and BDS efforts designed to delegitimize and obstruct Israel’s right to self-defense. 

These elements have long been visible parts of Al-Haq’s publications and activities, and have only increased after the October 7th atrocities. 

Nevertheless, Al-Haq continues to receive funding from a number of European governments, including France, Sweden, and Spain. Al-Haq also leverages its influence internationally through its position as a member in the international board of the centenarian European-funded NGO, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH).

A notable exception to this support is Germany, which announced that it was ending funding to Al-Haq in November 2023. 

Regarding the EU, according to Al-Haq, in June 2022 the EU informed the NGO it was lifting the suspension of funds, which had been frozen pending the results of an investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). However, in an August 2024 communication with NGO Monitor, the European Commission insisted that EU funding to Al-Haq was never renewed.

In this context, and given Al-Haq’s PFLP links, it is important to note that the PFLP has never recognized the State of Israel, opposes all negotiations, and instead regularly calls for the “liberation” of all of “historical Palestine,” by means of terror – including by participating in the October 7th invasion.

In an apparent attempt to circumvent the impact of the Israeli designation, in September 2022, Al-Haq registered in Brussels an organization named “Al-Haq Human Rights Organisation Europe (Al-Haq Europe).” For more information, see NGO Monitor’s report “Israeli-designated PFLP-linked NGO opened offices in Brussels.”

Denying Israel’s Right to Exist

Al-Haq publications, in particular in recent years, make explicit the NGO’s goal of Israel’s destruction.

  1. On May 31, 2022,  Al-Haq submitted a flagrantly antisemitic report to the UN Human Rights Council UNHRC’s permanent Commission of Inquiry (COI), denying Israel’s right to exist and the Jewish people’s right to sovereign equality. 

Excerpts from the text: 

  • “Colonised Palestine refers to the self-determination unit of the Palestinian people and territory of Mandate Palestine (prior to 1948), and which today constitutes the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and the territory recognized as the State of Israel in 1948.” (pg. 1)
  • “The 1948 Territory refers to the territory of the settler-colonial State of Israel, established by the displacement and dispossession of the vast majority (around 80 percent) of the indigenous Palestinian people during the Nakba and the maintenance of a settler colonial and apartheid regime over the Palestinian people since its creation.” (2)(emphasis added)
  • “The Palestinian people argued that the incorporation of the Balfour Declaration was illegal.”  (11)
  • “Soheir Asaad and Rania Muhareb writing on the importance of framing apartheid within the broader context of settler colonialism observed that: ‘During the Unity Intifada in May 2021 [referring to thousands of Hamas rocket attacks on Jerusalem and other Israeli cities and lynchings of Jews by mobs within Israel], we reclaimed our political will and agency in the streets of Palestine… What Palestinians want is not ‘reforms’ to our living conditions under the reign of Zionism, but the dismantlement of its very foundations. We do not want “liberal equality”—we want decolonisation, liberation, justice, and dignity.’” (8)

The specific demands issued by Al-Haq – demanding the repeal of laws, such as the Law of Return, enshrining and maintaining Israel’s role as the nation state of the Jewish people – are designed to dismantle the Jewish State.

(For additional information, see NGO Monitor’s report “Al-Haq’s Antisemitic Submission to the UN’s Permanent COI.”)

  1. On November 29, 2022, Al-Haq published yet another antisemitic screed dedicated to denying the Jewish people sovereign equality, by portraying Zionism and the State of Israel as inherently illegitimate:
    • Ironically, Al-Haq attacks Israeli NGO B’Tselem, which began labeling Israel an “apartheid” state in January 2021, for insufficiently castigating Zionism.  In Al-Haq’s words, “According to this [B’Tselem’s] approach, apartheid can be ended if the Israeli occupation comes to an end. Thus, the colonisation of Palestinian land by the Zionist movement from the late 19th century onward is legitimised, as is the dispossession of Palestinians and the denial of the right of return of Palestinian refugees since the start of the Nakba.”
    • After informing readers that “The roots of Israeli apartheid lie in the preceding decades of Zionist settler colonialisation,” Al-Haq offhandedly continues, “The late 19th century Zionist movement embraced the view of Jews as a distinct ‘race,’ enshrining it in the charters of Zionist institutions to create a national home for the Jews.”On November 29, 2022, Al-Haq published yet another antisemitic screed dedicated to denying the Jewish people sovereign equality, by portraying Zionism and the State of Israel as inherently illegitimate:

(For more information, see NGO Monitor’s report “Does Europe Support This? Al-Haq Tells the World to Dismantle Israel.”)

  1. 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 goodfaith negotiation can ever happen” (emphasis added).

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” (emphasis added). 

  1. The desire to erase Israel has been articulated by Al-Haq officials, as well:
    • On May 12, 2021, during the 2021 Gaza war, Al-Haq Legal Researcher and Advocacy Officer Aseel Al-Bajeh shared pictures of Arabs rioting in Israeli cities, adding, “This is hope! The Palestinian people dismantling Israeli colonial fragmentation since 1948 and voicing ONE call against ONE regime. We want to end this settler-colonial failing endeavor in our land! #SavePalestine.”
    • On June 7, 2021, Al-Bajeh tweeted, “In a #freepalastine (sic), I would go to Al Lidd airport to see Zionist colonizers board to where they came from.”
    • According to MEMRI, on November 11, 2021, PA-affiliated Palestine TV aired an interview with Al-Haq board member Dalal Salameh, in which she said, “According to this notion, [Israel] is a fake state that will come to an end…They want to bring this nation [Palestine] to its knees, but this is a nation of giants, as President [Arafat] said, and Allah willing, it will defy this occupation, this Zionist enterprise, and bring it to its end.” (emphases added).

Al-Haq Justifies Terrorism – Including the October 7th Massacre

A central aspect of Al-Haq’s activity is  arguing to Western elites – parliamentarians, government officials, diplomats, academics, journalists, and students –  that Israel is inherently illegitimate. In this way, Al-Haq provides justification for those that seek to destroy Israel by force and murder its Jewish population.

Al-Haq itself has praised terrorism against Israelis, labeling it “resistance”:  

  • In March 2024, Al-Haq published a report in which it euphemistically referred to terror attacks as “acts of struggle” in 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.” (emphases added)
  • In its May 2022 COI submission (see above), Al-Haq writes that “Israel’s violent suppression, criminalization, and/or terrorization of Palestinian resistance must be understood within the wider context…. People under colonial and foreign domination and alien subjugation, have the right to pursue their right to self-determination and freedom by all available means.” (emphasis added)
  • In the same document, Al-Haq declares that “The Unity Intifada [referring to thousands of Hamas rocket attacks on Jerusalem and other Israeli cities and lynchings of Jews by mobs within Israel] was sparked in Jerusalem during April 2021… the Palestinian people, across colonised Palestine, and Palestinian refugees in exile, mobilized in unity in an outpouring of demonstrations against Israel’s almost century long colonisation and apartheid, and their subjection to an ongoing Nakba since 1948.”
  • In a February 2024 publication, Al-Haq described Israeli officials’ calls to “dismantle” Hamas as “public incitement to genocide.” 

Moreover, Al-Haq officials have celebrated and defended the murder of Israeli civilians – including the October 7th massacre:

  • On October 7, Al-Bajeh tweeted, quoting Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, “Leave our land, get out of our faces.”
  • On October 12,  Al-Bajeh tweeted, “We don’t need to speak of our right to resist, for it is not a right, but a way of being & survival for Palestinians. We don’t demand our right to narrate. Our ability to narrate was never out of our hands & resistance doesn’t need the pre- approval of static int’l law codes.”
  • On October 10, Al-Haq Head of the Training and Capacity Building Unit Ziad Hmaidan wrote on Facebook, “It is written in the Hadith: ‘You must wage jihad. The best jihad is preparing for war, and it is best to prepare for war in Ashkelon’.”
  • In an October 9th Facebook post, Hmaidan shared a picture of a Palestinian terrorist participating in the October 7th massacre, adding “A message of intense love. The picture of one of the men of the ‘flood’ [referring to Hamas’ name for the invasion – The Al-Aqsa Flood] during a confrontation in one of the [israeli] bases that was stormed [by Palestinian terrorists].”
  • On October 10, Al-Haq Legal Researcher and Advocacy Officer Ahmed Abofoul tweeted, “It is outrageous to call on Palestinian resistance (permitted by international law) to CEASE its attacks while asking the occupying power ONLY to respect IHL.”

(For more information, see NGO Monitor’s report, “EU-Supported Palestinian NGOs and the October 7th Hamas Massacre.”)

These statements are consistent with previous justifications of murder made by Al-Haq officials:  

  • Referring to the demolition of the home of Islam Faroukh on June 8, 2023, Al-Bajeh tweeted, “Do Zionists really think that with punitive home demolitions, they will eradicate our resistance?”  On November 23, 2023, Faroukh detonated bombs at two Jerusalem bus stops, murdering three Israeli civilians. 
  • On January 28, 2023, the day after seven Israeli civilians were murdered by a Palestinian gunmen outside of a Jerusalem synagogue, Al-Bajeh tweeted, “More context: why are settlers allowed to be in occupied Jerusalem, a war crime that the world recognises?” – suggesting that the murders were justified.  
  • On January 29, 2023, Al-Bajeh tweeted, “Forcing Palestinians to Defend their Right to Resist is Another Complicity with Israel’s Colonialism.”

(For more information, see NGO Monitor’s July 2023 report, “Al-Haq Staff: Justifying Violence and glorifying terrorists.”)

Lawfare Campaigns

Following the Hamas-orchestrated October 7th massacre, Al-Haq spearheaded multiple campaigns, including false accusations of “genocide” and “starvation as a weapon” in the first days of the war. Using these pretexts, it also amplified its lawfare lobbying of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Court (ICC), European countries, and the US. 

The ultimate goal of such lawfare activity is to isolate Israel internationally, prevent it from defending itself in general and in the current war, contribute to the eradication of the Jewish State, and advocate on behalf of Hamas.

Al-Haq is a key actor in the explosion of lawfare cases since October 7, involved concurrently in lawsuits in the US, the UK, and Denmark. 

Al-Haq was also part of the South African genocide case against Israel at the ICJ, with General Director Shawan Jabarin attending hearings in January 2024 as part of the South African delegation. Head of Legal Research and Advocacy Susan Power served as an adviser for the South African complaint to the ICJ. 

In parallel, in November 2023, Al-Haq – in partnership with other PFLP-linked NGOs – demanded that the ICC “issue arrest warrants” against Israelis “for war crimes and crimes of genocide.” (This is an extension of Al-Haq’s intensive advocacy and leadership vis-a-vis the ICC for more than a decade.)

Additionally, Al-Haq has been prolific in condemning Israeli anti-terror operations and leveling false accusations of “war crimes,” “crimes against humanity,” “genocide,” and “apartheid.” 

As a international board member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Al-Haq influenced and leveraged internationally FIDH’s resolution headlined, “Israel’s unfolding crime of genocide and other crimes in Gaza and against the Palestinian People.”

Israeli Terror Designation

In October 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense designated Al-Haq (and another five Palestinian NGOs) as a “terror organization” due to its being part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’”. Israel accused Al-Haq (and the other NGOs) of diverting humanitarian funds from European donors to the PFLP and recruiting members for the terror group.

General Director Shawan Jabarin and His Links to the PFLP

Shawan Jabarin has served as Al-Haq’s General Director since 2006. He has multiple ties to the PFLP terrorist organization:

  • In May 2019, Shawan Jabarin attended a memorial event organized by the PFLP. It centered on PFLP political bureau member Rabah Muhanna, who, according to information posted by the PFLP, “contributed to the establishment” of several PFLP-affiliated NGOs. The hall was decorated with PFLP paraphernalia.
  • In 2017, Jabarin participated in a panel with Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar, as well as  Issam Younis (Al Mezan) and Mohammad Shtayyeh (Fatah Central Committee). The panel – which took place simultaneously via video conference in Gaza and the West Bank – was part of the event “the requirement for supporting and the success of the national [Palestinian internal] reconciliation.” Representatives from other Palestinian terrorist organizations, including PFLP Political Bureau member Kayed Al- Ghoul and PIJ Political Bureau member Khaled Al-Batsh, also participated in the conference. 

Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin remotely addressing a panel with Hamas leader Yehiya Sinwar

  • In 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court noted that Jabarin is “among the senior activists of the Popular Front terrorist organization.”
  • In 2007, in rejecting Jabarin’s appeal against a travel ban, the Israeli Supreme Court concluded that “the current petitioner 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 which has not shied away from murder and attempted murder, which have nothing to do with rights…”

Despite his multiple public and verifiable ties to the PFLP, Shawan Jabarin concurrently served from 2013 to 2022 as Vice-President and Secretary General of FIDH. In his senior position within FIDH, he met with French President Emmanuel Macron in 2022 and with France’s representative to the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH) in 2015; during the latter event, he lobbied against a governmental directive opposing a  boycott of Israel.

As General Director of Al-Haq, Jabarin met several times with then ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and delivered submissions alleging Israeli crimes.

Al-Haq Funding

Despite Israel’s designation and Germany’s decision to end its funding to the NGO over support for violence (see below), several European governments continue to support Al-Haq financially:

The program’s expected results include:

  • “The voice of HRDs [Human Rights Defenders] and local CSOs defending human rights is amplified among inter-governmental, diplomatic and economic institutions and the visibility of FIDH’s fights in matters of HR is reinforced.”
  • “Local CSOs defending HR, members and partners, have access to supportive, flexible and adapted support, allowing them to strengthen their power of action in the face of the shrinking space for Civil Society (110 local CSOs (58 % of FIDH MOs) are supported via flexible grants, missions, training).”

 

  • Sweden- In 2019-2023, Al-Haq received $2.55 million from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), out of$15 million  disbursed via the Palestinian NGO Development Center (NDC)’s Human Rights Programme. 
    • In 2024-2027, the Sida will provide the Human Rights Program (Phase II) with a budget of $11.8 million. Funding to NGO implementing partners has not yet been made public.
  • Spain- In March 2024, Al-Haq published a report with the financial support of a Spanish regional government, namely the Extremadura Agency for International Development Cooperation (AEXCID). Details of the grant are not known. 

Germany Ends Funding over Terror Ties and Support of Violence

On November 22, 2023, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported that Al-Haq, “will no longer receive funds from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.” According to the article, “a spokesperson for the ministry recently said that organizations that supported armed resistance to Israel were not appropriate partners” (emphasis added). This defunding was confirmed in February 2024, when German news outlet Frankfurter Allegemeine reported that Germany would end all new funding to six Israeli-designated PFLP-linked NGOs, including Al-Haq.