Throughout the years, the European Union has provided economic support in the tens of millions of shekels to Palestinian civilian organizations based on a standard stipulation applied to NGOs worldwide: To receive financial aid, they must have no affiliations with terrorist elements.
Lately, Palestinians have been outraged over an additional, legitimate stipulation the EU has introduced: The beneficiaries of EU grants must make sure that third-party elements (such as subcontractors, workshop participants and the like) with ties to them, who indirectly benefit from European funds, aren't on the EU sanctions list. The Palestinians are furious and have outright refused to sign on the clause. They completely reject the European decision that groups such as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine are terrorist organizations because from their perspective they are legitimate political parties.
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The Palestinians' feigned innocence and rejectionist stance are unsurprising. In late 2019, the Shin Bet security agency uncovered a comprehensive and organized PFLP terrorist network, which carried out the attack in which Rina Shnerb, 17, was murdered and her brother and father were wounded. The Palestinians claim the PFLP isn't a terrorist organization, and have sought to hide the fact that several members of the terrorist network discovered by the Shin Bet filled a number of key posts in the Palestinian NGO Addameer. In recent years, Addameer has received aid worth upwards of NIS 8 million from European countries and institutions. In 2018, for instance, Addameer received a NIS 500,000 grant from Switzerland. Senior officials in other Palestinian NGOs were members of declared terrorist groups for years; some of them even served jail terms in Israel.
The refusal of the Palestinian de-legitimization organizations – which are supported officially by Palestinian Authority elements – to sever ties with murderous terrorist organizations, illustrates the extent to which NGO's are used to camouflage and promote the armed campaign waged by terrorist organizations against Israel.
The discrepancy between the EU and the Palestinians is fundamental: Is the method of "human rights activist by day and terrorist by night," which the Palestinians view as natural and legitimate, acceptable to the EU?
It appears that even the EU is fed up with the Palestinian con job – no to mention funding it. The EU must stand strong against the Palestinians' concentrated pressure campaign. Succumbing to it will deliver a terrible message, giving terrorist organizations a form of legitimacy. The EU needs to condition any provision of aid on the complete renunciation of terrorist affiliations – direct, indirect, first-party, second-party, third-party or otherwise. This is the correct, appropriate and moral thing to do.
