The European Union on Thursday castigated Israel’s decision to classify six Palestinian Arab organizations affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as terrorist organizations.
In a statement released Thursday evening, the EU protested Israel’s decision to label the six groups in question as terrorist organizations, noting its own financial ties to the groups.
“The European Union is proud of its continued support to civil society that contributes to peace efforts and confidence building between Israelis and Palestinians.”
“The EU takes very seriously the listing of six Palestinian organisations by Israel’s Ministry of Defence. These listings have far-reaching consequences for the organisations in political, legal and financial terms.”
The EU said it would discuss the issue with Israel, and denied past claims of ‘misuse’ of EU funds by the six PFLP affiliates.
“We will be engaging Israeli authorities for more information regarding the basis for these designations. The EU has never and will never finance or support any terrorist organisations. It exercises maximum diligence to avoid any such situation and takes such allegations extremely serious.”
“If substantiated evidence were to be provided that any beneficiary has made an inappropriate use of EU funds, the EU would take action to recover these funds. Past allegations of the misuse of EU funds in relation to certain Palestinian CSO partners have not been substantiated.”
This past Friday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz designated six groups identified with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as terrorist organizations: Union of Palestinian Women's Committees (UPWC), ADDAMEER - Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Al-Haq Organization, Defense for Children International–Palestine (DCI-P), and the Union Of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC).
The United Nations human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday condemned the move, while the Biden administration chided Israel for allegedly not coordinating the move ahead of time with the US – a claim Israeli authorities repeatedlydenied.