“We just met in Ramallah with the six NGOs Israel designated as terrorists,” tweeted MK Aida Touma-Sliman.
By World Israel News Staff
Members of the Arab Joint List visited Ramallah Tuesday night to meet with members of the six Palestnian NGOs that the Israeli government defined as terrorist organizations the week before.
“In our backwards world, in which the government that is deepening the occupation calls itself a ‘change government,’ the defense minister dates to declare internationally respected human rights organizations terrorist organizations,” the Joint List said in a statement.
The group said that the left-wing Meretz party and Arab Ra’am party would need to decide what side they are on: “the occupation, annexation and apartheid side or the side of peace, equality or democracy.”
Last week, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that he was listing six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist groups: Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees. The groups, according to Gantz, “belong to and constitute an arm of the [Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine] … the main activity of which is the liberation of Palestine and destruction of Israel.”
For years, the Israeli government and various watchdog organizations have been fighting against organizations who front themselves as humanitarian but are focused on anti-Israel activity, including supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement or even terror.
MK Aida Touma-Sliman, who was in Ramallah, tweeted after the meeting that “We just met in Ramallah with the six NGOs Israel designated as terrorists. These groups fight against the great terror of the occupation. Meretz and Ra’am are just as responsible for this decision as Gantz is. We will fight against this attempt to break Palestinian civil society.”