Palestinian NGOs linked to terror file appeal for reclassification

The five organizations claim to be Palestinian human rights defenders.

By World Israel News Staff

Five Palestinian NGOs that the Israeli government outed as fronts for terror organizations filed a motion in a Judea and Samaria military court, requesting that the IDF’s legal adviser reexamine the evidence and reverse the classification.

In October 2021, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that six Palestinian NGOs will be listed as terror organizations for their close ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The classification of the six NGOs as terror-affiliated groups meant that under Israeli law, the authorities could close the nonprofits’ offices, seize their assets and ban supporting their activities.

Addameer, al-Haq, Defense for Children Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Bisan Center for Research and Development, and the Union of Palestinian Women Committees were the six organizations named by Gantz as terror groups, but just five filed the request for the classification to be removed.

The sixth group, the Union of Agricultural Workers’ Committee, was not part of the motion protesting its classification as a terror organization.

Notably, Abdul Razeq Farraj, who was once the Finance and Administration director of that NGO, was charged in 2019 with helping plan and execute the roadside bombing that killed 17-year-old Rina Schnerb.

In the filing to remove the terror label, the five groups claimed that the designation was a cynical attempt by the Israeli government to smear legitimate organizations working to strengthen Palestinian society.

“Israel’s actions cannot be interpreted as anything other than a politically motivated attack on Palestinian human rights defenders” and “an attempt to destroy Palestinian civil society,” the groups wrote.

A July 2021 report from Zionist watchdog group Im Tirtzu revealed Tuesday that some $40 million in funding from the UN was funneled to Palestinian NGOs that support terror and BDS from 2016 to 2020.

All of the 19 Palestinian NGOs that received UN funding support BDS, and eight have clear ties to Hamas or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror groups, the report said.