A program funded by the French Foreign ministry in coordination with its representatives in east Jerusalem is being operated by a member of the terrorist group from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to a report by NGO Monitor.
The East Jerusalem Youth Initiative Program, set to commence this week at the city's Chateaubriand French Cultural Center, says it aims to provide leisure activities, sports and psychological counseling to some 500 youths from the city's Silwan neighborhood, whom the program says have been "very negatively affected by Israeli demolitions."
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The program is being run by the Al Bustan Project, which is funded by a series of local councils in France as well as the French Foreign Ministry. According to the budget plan, Al Bustan is set to receive nearly €400,000 (around $450,000) from various aid agencies in the French government.
In the past, the Al Bustan Project has been tied to activities that expressed support for terrorism. In one such incident, Al Bustan organized a production in which Palestinian children were seen holding weapons and demonstrating on a child how the United States and Israel "execute Palestine."
Even more troubling, the role of the East Jerusalem Youth Initiative coordinator has been given to a well-known PFLP activist. A resident of east Jerusalem, Daoud Ghoul was convicted in 2015 for belonging to the PFLP terrorist group and even served a year and a half in prison after he tried to educate children in the "spirit" of the Popular Front. This was Ghoul's third conviction within the framework of his activities for the PFLP, which has been deemed a terrorist group by Israel as well as by the European Union.
The French Consulate in Jerusalem is infamous for its anti-Israel activity. A few months ago, one of its employees was sentenced to seven years in prison after he was caught smuggling weapons in from the Gaza Strip. In another confrontation with Israel, the consulate has for years prevented Jewish worshipers from entering the Tomb of Kings, a catacomb under its administration in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah near the Old City owing to international agreements dating back to the Ottoman period. While the catacomb was recently opened to Israelis for a short period of time, it has since been closed.
