PFLP Ties of the Six Designated Terror NGOs
On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense designated six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. According to the Ministry of Defense, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Al-Haq, Addameer, Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), and Bisan were included on Israel’s list of terrorist organizations because they are operated by and for the benefit of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), designated as a terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.1 (A seventh PFLP-linked organization – Health Workers Committee (HWC) – was designated in January 2020.)
The Ministry of Defense, building off a ISA (Shabak) May 2021 press release, explained that these NGOs diverted humanitarian funds from European donors to the PFLP and recruited members into the terror group. Relatedly, a security official told Israel’s N12 news site on October 23, 2021 that these NGOs provided a funding “lifeline” for the PFLP, employed PFLP terrorists, and that PFLP terror operatives used NGO offices for meetings.
On August 17, 2022, Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz announced that the appeals of Addameer, Bisan, and UPWC were rejected, and he had finalized the designations. Head of the IDF’s Central Command Gen. Yehuda Fuchs also rejected appeals made by Al-Haq and DCI-P. That night, IDF forces raided at least seven PFLP-linked institutions, including the offices of Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan, and UPWC. According to Al-Haq, IDF forces “shut down the main entrance with an iron plate leaving behind a military order declaring the organization unlawful.”
Since 2007, NGO Monitor has published numerous reports, based on open sources, documenting the close connections between these and other Palestinian NGOs and the PFLP. It is likely that Israeli authorities possess further materials on the NGO-PFLP ties, but it is unknown whether they will make this public.
See below for details – all previously published by NGO Monitor – regarding each of the designated organizations, including organizational ties between the NGOs and the PFLP, as well as individual links between NGO board members, officials, and employees and the terror group. A crucial aspect of these developments is the reaction from European funders. As detailed below, reaction in Europe have been varied, with some officials seeking to strengthen anti-terror funding mechanisms, while others have sought to discredit the designations. There is also data related to foreign governmental funding to these organizations.
Footnotes
- Founded by George Habash in 1967, the PFLP is designated as a terrorist organization by the EU, the US, Canada, and Israel. The PFLP has carried out suicide bombings, shootings, and assassinations, among other terrorist activities targeting civilians, and was the first Palestinian organization to hijack airplanes in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2001, the PFLP assassinated Israeli Minister of Tourism Rechavam Ze’evi. PFLP members took credit for the house invasion and murder of the Fogel family in 2011 and was responsible for the massacre at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood in 2014 where four worshipers and an Israeli police officer were murdered. The terror organization also praised its “comrades” for their role in the murder of Israeli Border Police office Hadas Malka– and wounding of four other Israelis- in a June 16, 2017 attack in Jerusalem.
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