The Dutch government has decided to cancel a multi-million dollar contract with the Palestinian Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), citing its ties to the EU-designated terrorist organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, NGO Monitor reported on Tuesday.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
According to the watchdog group, which analyzes and reports on the output of the international NGO community from a pro-Israel perspective, the Jan 5. decision said the €2.2 million ($2.4 million) contract would be canceled immediately.
An independent investigation commissioned by the Dutch government in 2021 concluded that 34 officials and board members who worked at UAWC in 2007-2020 had ties to the PFLP. Some held leadership positions in the terrorist group concurrent to their employment at UAWC, including two terrorists responsible for the 2019 murder of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb.
Importantly, the Dutch inquiry did not use the confidential information provided by intelligence agencies, and instead based its conclusions on reviewing open-source data on the NGO, its officials, and employees - validating NGO Monitor's work and the importance of our methodology for crucial NGO vetting.
Following the announcement, NGO Monitor sent letters to the governments of Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, and to the European Union, referencing the Dutch decision and urging them to freeze all ongoing or future funding to UAWC and other PFLP-linked NGOs.
NGO Monitor was referenced in many of the media reports about these developments. As reported, in 2018, NGO Monitor informed Dutch officials about the affiliation of many UAWC employees and board members to the PFLP. We supplemented and reinforced this information regularly in communications with officials.
As a result of the investigation and funding cancellation, we estimate that the Dutch have cut €2.2 million in support to UAWC.
The UAWC denounced the decision, saying that it was "the first time a government ends its funding for Palestinian civil society based on political conditionality."
Al Jazeera reported that the group said it would consider legal steps to challenge the Dutch government's "harmful and unfair decision", which, it warned, was "likely to resonate far beyond our organization."
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
