At the end of 2024, a consortium of Dutch, Dutch-funded, and terror-linked Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) filed a lawsuit against the Netherlands, alleging that it is abetting Israeli violations of international law.  NGO plaintiffs included Al Mezan and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) – both Dutch-funded and terror-linked – as well as Al-Haq, an Israel-designated terrorist organization. They were joined by Dutch NGOs SOMO and Groningen-Jabalya (both funded by the Netherlands), as well as the Netherlands-based European Legal Support Center (ELSC), Palestine Foundation, Plant een Olijfboom, Kifaia Foundation, Nederlands Palestina Komitee (NPK), Een Ander Joods Geluid, and Erev Rav.

The involvement of NGOs with strong ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas, both EU-designated terrorist organizations, in an attempt to impose an arms embargo against Israel, is deeply concerning. In addition, the phenomenon of NGOs that receive funding from the Netherlands using the Dutch legal system to influence Dutch foreign policy raises questions about democratic norms and internal policy coherence.

About the Lawsuit

​In October 2024, the aforementioned NGOs filed a civil lawsuit against the Dutch government, alleging that the Netherlands “is not doing enough to prevent or end the violations and crimes committed by Israel,” citing the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions, as well as the an International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion issued in July 2024 within the framework of South Africa’s case against Israel.

The coalition was seeking to implement “[a] ban on Dutch export and transit of weapons, weapon parts, and dual-use items to Israel” as well as “[a] ban on all Dutch trade and investment relations that help maintain the illegal occupation, racial segregation, and colonisation” (emphasis added), claiming that “[any] economic dealing with companies that operate in Israeli settlements is illegal.”

In December 2024, the District Court of The Hague rejected the NGOs’ petition on the grounds that the Netherlands “complies with [its] obligation” to “assess whether there is a clear risk that the goods could be used by Israel in a manner that could lead to a violation of the humanitarian law of war.” The coalition filed an appeal in March 2025.

In July 2025, SOMO announced that the NGOs will appear before the Dutch Court of Appeal on September 3, 2025, to challenge the December 2024 ruling.

This legal action is part of longstanding lawfare campaigns by NGOs in the Netherlands, including a civil suit launched by Oxfam Novib, PAX and The Rights Forum against the Dutch government, seeking to prevent the transfer of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel. A High Court ruling in that case is still pending.

Terror-Linked Palestinian NGOs

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights

Al Mezan is highly active in anti-Israel lawfare campaigns and has advocated for arrest warrants against Israeli officials for alleged “war crimes.” Al Mezan has submitted numerous documents to the International Criminal Court (ICC) demanding prosecution of Israeli officials. 

Al Mezan has partnered with Palestinian terrorist organizations in these efforts.  For instance, on April 9, 2015, Al-Mezan hosted a conference in Gaza about prosecuting Israelis at the ICC, featuring representatives from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the PFLP, all of which are EU-designated terrorist organizations.

In 2019-2022, Al Mezan received an unspecified amount of a €7 million grant from the Dutch Representative Office in Ramallah (NRO) for “Civil Society Organizations Support.” Since then, the NRO has followed up with a “Phase II” for 2023-2025, this time omitting the names of NGO beneficiaries.

Al Mezan Staff’s Links to the PFLP and Hamas

Issam Younis – Al Mezan Director

In 2017, Al-Mezan director Issam Younis participated in a panel discussion on “The requirement for supporting and the success of the national [Palestinian internal] reconciliation,” alongside Hamas’ then-leader Yahya Sinwar. Representatives from other EU-designated terrorist organizations – including PIJ Political Bureau member Khaled Al-Batsh and PFLP Political Bureau member Kayed Al-Ghoul – also participated in the conference.

Al-Mezan director Issam Younis (on the right) addressing a 2017 panel with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (on the left).

Nafiz Al-Madhoun – Al Mezan Board Member 

Al-Madhoun has held a seat on Al-Mezan’s board (from at least January 2015 and at least until February 2025).

Al-Madhoun is the former Director-General of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Legislative Council.  He served in this role from at least 2010 through at least June 2022.

Nafez al-Madhoun (2nd from left) participating in an October 2010 Hamas workshop alongside Hamas spokesperson Taher al-Nunu (far right), Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar (2nd from right), and senior Hamas official Mohammad al-Ghoul (center).

In March 2023, Al-Madhoun participated in the “Jurists Confronting the Occupier” event, alongside leading Hamas officials. 

Al-Madhoun (circled in red) participating in an event hosted by the Hamas-affiliated International Center for Law Studies. To his right, Hamas legislator Faraj al-Ghoul; to his left, Hamas Political Bureau member Muhammed Al-Zahar.

For more information on Al Mezan staff links to the PFLP and Hamas, see NGO Monitor’s report, “Al Mezan Center For Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)

PFLP-linked PCHR engages in international anti-Israel advocacy campaigns, influencing and providing numerous materials to the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as biased UN bodies.

In January 2024-December 2028, the Netherlands is committing €22.85 million to Sawasya III, the third phase of a UN-implemented project dedicated to “reinforcing equal access to justice for all Palestinians” (phase one started in 2014). NGO partners in the second phase of the project included PCHR and Al-Mezan. As of August 2025, information on Sawasya III’s NGO partners is not publicly available.

  • Sawasya III is a joint UNDP, UN Women, and UNICEF program active in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. According to the program, in the West Bank, Sawasya “partners engaged with both Israeli and Palestinian jurisdictions. Legal aid focused on mitigating the impact of harsher Israeli policies in Area C and East Jerusalem” (emphasis added). Sawasya also claims to promote digital innovation in justice services; train professionals such as judges, police, and social workers; and offer legal aid, including counselling and representation for minors in Israeli military courts.

PCHR Links to the PFLP

Raji Sourani – PCHR Founder and Director

According to a 1995 article in the Washington Report, Sourani served “a three-year sentence [1979-1982] imposed by an Israeli court which convicted him of membership in the illegal Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine…” He was also denied a US entry visa in 2012.

In February 2014, the PFLP organized a ceremony in Gaza honoring Sourani, featuring a speech by PFLP Politburo member, Rabah Muhana.  During the event, Sourani stated that “I was in the ranks of the Popular Front, and there were comrades who taught us with their own hands. This organization has given us much more. We hope that the direction and the sense of belonging that were planted inside us will remain in our minds. We don’t apologize and don’t regret our past, we are proud that once we were members of this organization and we fought in its ranks” (emphasis added).

Tellingly, in May 2023, as PIJ was bombarding Israel with barrages of rockets from Gaza, PCHR published a statement (on file with NGO Monitor) in which it “affirms the right of the Palestinian people to resist the occupation by all available means, including armed struggle…” (emphasis added). After criticism, and under pressure from European government donors, this text was amended.

For more information on PCHR’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”

Al-Haq & Al-Haq Europe

Al-Haq leads anti-Israel efforts at the ICC, and related BDS efforts, by claiming Israeli international law violations.

On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense designated Al-Haq a terrorist entity, identifying it as operating “on behalf of the Popular Front [for the Liberation of Palestine].” Moreover, in May 2018, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express shut down online credit card donations to Al-Haq due to the group’s ties to the PFLP.

Al-Haq’s funding information is not transparent. Al-Haq has not released financial details or donation amounts since 2009. Donors include the European Union, Norway, Ireland, Italy, France, and Spain.

“Al-Haq Human Rights Organisation Europe (Al-Haq Europe),” was registered on September 27, 2022, by the Business Court of Brussels. As detailed by NGO Monitor, Al-Haq Europe appears to be closely linked to Ramallah-based Al-Haq.  (For more information on Al-Haq Europe, see NGO Monitor’s report, “Potential Circumvention of Terror-Finance Sanctioned Palestinian NGO.”)

Al-Haq has lobbied to remove Hamas from the EU terror list:

  • In March 2024, Al-Haq published a report asserting that Palestinian terrorism does not exist:

“Even if individual acts of struggle [terrorism] 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.”

  • In a July 2023 letter to members of the European Parliament, Al-Haq insisted 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” (emphasis added).

Al-Haq Staff’s Links to the PFLP and Hamas

Shawan Jabarin – Al-Haq General Director

The Israeli Supreme Court has identified Jabarin as a leading PFLP member on multiple occasions:

  • In 2007, the Court identified Jabarin as “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…” 
  • In 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court noted that Jabarin is “among the senior activists of the Popular Front [for the Liberation of Palestine] terrorist organization.” 

Additionally, other sources have noted Jabarin’s participation in PFLP-related events, and in events with members of Hamas and other terror groups:

Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin (far right on screen) remotely addressing a panel with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (far right on dais).

For more information on additional Al-Haq staff members’ links to the PFLP, see NGO Monitor’s report.

Dutch NGOs

Nederlands Palestina Komitee (NPK)

NPK, one of the oldest Dutch anti-Israel organizations, was founded in 1969 as a political advocacy NGO that “supports the Palestinian struggle against the Zionist project in Palestine” and “strives to strengthen solidarity with the Palestinians” by influencing public opinion and political decision-making in the Netherlands.

NPK board member Ibrahim Al-Baz was arrested in Paris in 1979 after being caught in possession of four and a half kilograms of explosives inside of a suitcase, which “were intended for [one of] his Palestinian friends in Berlin.” Moreover, in 1974, two Dutch members of the Leiden branch of NPK were caught and arrested at the Israeli-Jordanian border for carrying a letter that explained how to build a bomb.

SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations)

SOMO regularly promotes hostile anti-Israel rhetoric and activities, including repeated BDS and lawfare endeavors. For instance, in May 2024, SOMO called for “an embargo on jet fuel and crude oil” transfers to Israel. 

SOMO receives funding from the Netherlands.

  • In 2021-2025, the Netherlands and Oxfam Novib together allocated €4.7 million to “Fair for All,” a joint project by Oxfam Novib and SOMO that operates, inter alia, in the West Bank and Gaza.
  • In 2017-2023, SOMO received €1.8 million from the Netherlands for “Countering corporate strategies for creating, maintaining and exploiting human rights.”

Plant een Olijfboom & The Kifaia Foundation

Plant een Olijfboom (Plant an Olive Tree) was founded in 2015 and defines its mission as “[supporting] Palestinians by increasing awareness about the situation in Palestine and showing solidarity by sponsoring olive trees and providing other forms of support.”

Kifaia, which “has been active in the Gaza Strip for decades” was originally created to support the National Center for Community Rehabilitation (NCCR). However, after Kifaia’s “collaboration with the NCCR ended for various reasons” in 2013, its raison d’être became to “support the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) . . .  with money and by working towards a sustainable, just peace.”

Plant een Olijboom established an “Emergency Fund” in 2021 (later renamed as a “Palestine Fund”) that allegedly initially raised €15,963.99 and was all donated to PMRS via Kifaia.

On June 18, 2023, Plant an Olive Tree posted a video to X/Twitter for Father’s Day, calling to “free Palestine for all fathers and their children,” featuring tributes to terrorists such as Walid Daqqa and Khader Adnan.

  • Walid Daqqa, a member of the PFLP, was sentenced in 1987 to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam.
  • Khader Adnan was a senior member of the PIJ.

PMRS Ties to Terror

The president of PMRS is Mustafa Barghouti.

  • On October 7, 2023, Barghouti declared: “Today is a glorious day for the Palestinian resistance and people. The resistance paid with interest for the attacks of the terrorist settlers, and for the attacks against the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It paid with interest for those who normalize [their relations] with the occupation.”
  • In October 2022, Barghouti and then-head of Hamas Yahya Sinwar were photographed standing next to each other at a rally “in support of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque.”
  • In February 2022, Barghouti participated in a conference, “Colonialism Will Go Down,” organized by Hamas.
  • In May 2019, Mustafa Barghouti 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 May 2023, Israel arrested PMRS member Mohammad Al-Barq alongside five other suspects who were responsible for manufacturing and planting a bomb on a bus in the town of Beitar Illit, on March 9, 2023 on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Groningen-Jabalya Foundation

Groningen-Jabalya, funded by the municipality of Groningen, is a Dutch NGO that aims to foster a friendship between the city of Groningen in the Netherlands and Jabalya (a city in northern Gaza). The foundation has facilitated exchanges, including financial ones, between the two municipalities. 

  • According to the organization, “The Groningen – Jabalya foundation receives an annual subsidy from the municipality of Groningen. All activities are funded from this . . . [and] organizational costs are also covered by this municipal subsidy. This means that all euros for emergency aid are transferred to the PMRS” (emphasis added). In 2024, Groningen-Jabalya requested €4,200 from the municipality of Groningen.

European Legal Support Center

The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) was jointly founded by the Rights Forum, the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), and European jurists. The NGO does not publish any financial data, donor information, or sources of funding, reflecting a complete lack of transparency and accountability.