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Meretz lawmaker ‘not disturbed’ by European terror funding, says fellow Knesset member

A report earlier this year warned that funds donated to Palestinian aid organizations, from both European state sources and private donors, are being used to support terrorism.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Member of Knesset Michal Cotler-Wunsch (Blue and White) took to Twitter on Monday with an explosive accusation that MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) is not alarmed by links between European financing for NGOs and terrorism.

The tweet came after a Knesset discussion on the issue.

“Imp[ortant] discussion on foreign govt $ NGOs, inc[luding] to terror tied orgs & need for transparency. Some MKs aren’t disturbed,” Cotler-Wunsch tweeted.

“I asked @NitzanHorowitz: ‘Does it bother you that the murderers of Rina Shnerb worked for Eur govt $ NGOs?’ His shocking response: ‘No.’”

A May 2020 report by Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs warned that funds donated to Palestinian aid organizations, from both European state sources and private donors, are being used to support terrorism.

An example of European money financing terrorism is Rina Shnerb’s murder, which occurred in August 2019. Shnerb, a 17-year-old Israeli girl, was killed by a roadside bomb near Dolev in Samaria while hiking with her father and brother.

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Samar Arbid, the head of the cell that orchestrated the attack, was employed as a senior staffer in the Palestinian human rights organization Adamir, which was funded by years by the European Union.

A 2017 photograph visible on the Facebook page of the Netherlands Representative Office in Ramallah features Dutch officials posing with Abdul Razeq Farraj. In October 2019, Farraj was indicted for helping plan Schnerb’s murder.

At the time the photograph was taken, Farraj was the Finance and Administration director of the Palestinian NGO Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC).

The Dutch government donates some $2 million annually to the UAWC.

“I have no doubt that European countries do not support terrorism and murder of innocents,” wrote Eitan Shnerb, Rina’s father, in an open letter calling on the EU to stop the funding.

“However, they certainly understand that the link between Palestinian aid organizations and terrorist organizations is a reality, which must be condemned. I urge you: Don’t be blind. Don’t be deceived. Do not give a hand, platform, or funding to these organizations.”