Israel is drawing criticism from within and without for its decision to designate six Palestinian rights organizations as “terrorist organizations.” The US, along with Israel and its allies, consider the group to be a terrorist organization.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense says the six groups operate as an organized network under the leadership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian (PFLP), which Israel considers to be a terror entity. The six organizations are: Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense for Children International-Palestine, Bisan Center, Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and Union of Agricultural Work Committees.
“The decision was made on a factual and legal basis after this issue was examined in the Ministry of Justice, and in this sense, it relies on a solid basis,” said Gideon Saar, Israel’s Minister of Justice.
The PFLP is a Palestinian-Marxist organization known for planning and carrying out terror attacks. In 2019, the group was linked to the bombing attack that killed a 17-year-old girl and wounded her father.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the designation and Palestinian activists from the groups called on the international community to help reverse the decision.
“Closing the organizations and declaring them terrorist organizations will affect their work on a daily basis and will affect their programs and affect their staff,” said Shawan Jabrin, director of Al-Haq, one of the groups designated as a terror organization.
“This will corner, and put I think, particularly I think put Palestinian Authority in a corner,” said Jabrin.
The U.S. stopped short of condemning Israel, but State Department Spokesman Ned Price said Israel gave the U.S. no advance warning.
“We believe respect for human rights; fundamental freedoms and a strong civil society are critically important to responsible and responsive governance. We’ll be engaging our Israeli partners for more information regarding the basis for these designations,” said Price.
Israel said in its initial statement that it had updated the US administration ahead of time on its intention to designate the groups.
Israel Security Authorities (ISA) says the groups constitute a “lifeline” for the PFLP by raising funds and money laundering, employing and financially compensating terrorists, and facilitating the recruitment of activists to the military arm of the PFLP.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, representatives of Israel’s Shin Bet security services and Defense Ministry are heading to Washington to present Israel’s evidence that the groups are indeed connected with the PFLP. They say they have clear-cut evidence, including footage and receipts that funds were transferred to the terror organization.
Olga Deutsch, Vice President of NGO Monitor, says her organization has been trying to show the connection between humanitarian groups and terror organizations like the PFLP for years.
“Increasingly over the years, we have seen connections. They go to conferences. They share the same platforms,” Deutsch told CBN News. “They have Shawan Jabrin, which is the head of Al-Haq, which is one of the most prominent Palestinian human rights groups, representing PFLP in many formal meetings.”
Deutsch says it’s a dramatic decision. The humanitarian groups gave legitimacy to the PFLP on the international stage.
“Their legitimacy is now not shattered but crumbled in pieces. I don’t see how they can continue claiming that they promote human rights when actually, they are clearly an extended arm of a terror organization,” said Deutsch.
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
Unsurprisingly, prominent anti-semites, including Minnesota Congress member Ilhan Omar condemned the decision by Israel to classify the NGO’s as “terrorist organizations,” claiming the move was “a textbook way to evade accountability for human rights violations” and urging the US and international community to bring “immediate consequences” on Israel for this “brazen act.”
Amnesty International also scolded the Jewish State calling their announcement a “shocking assault on human rights.”
In 2020, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought to label several prominent organizations, including Amnesty International, as “anti-semitic” for their anti-Israel bias and support for the BDS movement. Pompeo further proposed a halting of US financial support to the groups.
NGO’s with ties to Palestinian terrorism is nothing new, an Israeli watchdog group “NGO Monitor” revealed in June that millions of US taxpayer dollars “were passed on to Palestinian programs that introduced children in Gaza and the West Bank to convicted terrorists and presented them as role models,” according to Fox News.
In 2019 a PFPL cell murdered Rina Schnerb, a 17-year-old Israeli citizen. Five of the six NGOs designated as “terror organizations” by Israel on October 22nd, had officials detained in connection with the bombing attack.
NGO Monitor also reported that the Netherlands, the European Union, Citibank, Arab Bank, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express all took steps to either freeze funding, close accounts, deny services, and open investigations into these NGOs and their links to acts of terrorism and promotion/funding of terrorist attacks.
“Israel is not suppressing Palestinian civil society, contrary to what one might be hearing this week, and here is why: the organizations now listed as terrorist groups are not targeted because of their anti-Israel stances, but rather because of a legitimate and well-documented track record of collusion and cooperation the PFLP, the internationally recognized terrorist organization,” an article published by the Jerusalem post urged.
While on paper, sending funds to Gaza and the West Bank may sound like a “noble cause,” especially with the vast degree of propaganda presenting its residence as poor, war-torn, and downtrodden, but the reality is that these funds are spent promoting and conducting terrorist activity.
The terrorist actions by the “Palestinian” people should be universally condemned. However, the chosen narrative surrounding Israel, which is espoused by most major media outlets, has been to demonize the Jewish State, claiming it has bullied and oppressed the Palestinian people.
Hamas and others have brazenly made their goals to “obliterate” Israel and eradicate the Jewish people abundantly clear.
This is rooted in the same antisemitic thinking that has throughout history lead to the persecution and extermination efforts against the Jewish people.
In Genesis 12:3, God not only calls all the nations of the world to bless Israel, but He also presents a warning to those nations and people that choose to curse them: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
