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Erdan: ‘I’ll confront UN over funding of terror-supporting NGOs’

Zionist watchdog group Im Tirtzu found that a number of Palestinian NGOs supported by the UN had clear links to the Hamas and PFLP terror groups.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

On the heels of a bombshell report which revealed that some $40 million in United Nations funding went to terror-supporting Palestinian NGOs, Israel’s envoy to the UN plans to discuss the matter with the organization’s secretary-general.

“The findings of the report are important and point to a known phenomenon that I am fighting in which the UN distorts and abuses UN mechanisms that are supposed to be objective,” Ambassador Gilad Erdan told Israel Hayom.

“Instead, it funds pro-BDS and pro-terror groups that incite against Israel under the guise of humanitarian activity.”

The press release issued by Zionist watchdog group Im Tirtzu found that a number of Palestinian NGOs supported by the UN had clear links to the Hamas and PFLP terror groups.

In a statement, the UN denied that they had been negligent in investigating the groups they funded.

“The United Nations system organizations continuously screen entities with which they come into relation against the United Nations Security Council consolidated list of designated entities which includes all individuals and entities subject to measures imposed by the Security Council,” read the statement.

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“They also have regard to other relevant decisions of the Security Council as well as relevant decisions of the General Assembly.”

“[The] names [of the NGOs] are innocuous and mislead people into thinking they promote human rights, but in reality they peddle malicious anti-Israel agendas,” said Eytan Meir, director of external relations and development for Im Tirtzu.

The NGO also charged that the UN is perpetuating a culture of obfuscation when it comes to how such funding is actually distributed.

In reports, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) often omits “implementing partners” — namely, the bodies who are responsible for actually carrying out the tasks for which the funding was granted.

This means that radical organizations can be given funding, without accountability to ensure funds are used properly, or the name of the organization being officially recorded.