Radical left-wing NGO B’Tselem, together with an Arab group with ties to terrorists, will receive the French Republic 2018 Human Rights Award next week.
By World Israel News Staff
B’Tselem, a radical left-wing Israeli organization that accuses Israel of “apartheid” and “war crimes,” was selected to receive the French Republic 2018 Human Rights Award next week.
French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet and president of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, Christine Lazerges, will present the award to the group in Paris on December 10.
B’Tselem is a member of Paris-based group Fédération Internationale des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH), “an association of international NGOs that is active in anti-Israel BDS campaigns,” NGO Monitor reports.
Also receiving the French award is Al-Haq, an Arab organization and a leading group in the worldwide Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Al-Haq has ties to the Popular Front to Liberate Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization. Al-Haq General Director Shawan Jabarin was convicted of recruiting for the PFLP in 1985.
B’Tselem director Hagai El-Ad praised Al-Haq, “our colleagues,” for receiving the award.
“We, at B’Tselem and Al-Haq, share the same values and the same realization: that only by ending the occupation can there be a future based on human rights, equality and liberty.”
B’Tselem’s director recently made news when he testified against Israel at the U.N. Security Council in October, comparing the Jewish State to apartheid South Africa and castigating Israeli settlement policies as “splitting up an entire people, fragmenting their land, and disrupting their lives.”
‘A mark of Cain on French Republic’
French Member of Parliament Meir Habib blasted the French government’s decision to award B’Tselem and Al-Haq.
“I am again struck by France’s obsession with what they define as ‘the occupation.’ We Frenchmen once more choose to see reality in a distorted way,” he said.
“How can a human rights prize be awarded to organizations that treat terrorists as freedom fighters? How do human rights values co-exist with the ceaseless activity of these organizations to boycott the State of Israel? Why is there no reference to the human rights of Israelis who have suffered from endless terror?” he said.
“Today’s prize pushes away peace and sets the mark of Cain on the forehead of the French Republic,” Habib said.
Echoing the French parliamentarian’s comments Israeli Minister of Culture Miri Regev said, “This is not a prize – it is a badge of shame and an official stamp of approval for anti-Israel organizations.”