Introduction

Abdel Shafi Community Health Association (ACHA), formerly known as the Red Crescent Society for the Gaza Strip (RCS4GS)1, was founded in 1972 and “is a developmental NGO that seeks to contribute to improving the health, educational, cultural and social conditions of the community through comprehensive quality programs based on justice and equality.”

ACHA was founded and is directed by senior members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. Other employees have demonstrated support for Palestinian terror groups and their actions. On multiple occasions, ACHA facilities were used by the PFLP to hold their formal events.

ACHA founder Haider Abdel Shafi was a member of the Arab Nationalist Movement, which was headed by PFLP founder George Habash and whose Palestine branch was eventually transformed to the PFLP. According to the Dr. Haider Abdel Shafi Center2, Abdel Shafi was arrested for “supporting the military activities” of the PFLP, and although “he always denied membership of the PFLP,” Abdul Shafi “expressed sympathy for its radical stand.”

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

Founded by George Habash in 1967, the PFLP is a secular Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organization, originally supported by the former Soviet Union and China. The PFLP is a terrorist organization, designated as such by the EU, the US, Canada, and Israel. The PFLP is involved in suicide bombings, shootings, and assassinations, among other terrorist activities targeting civilians, and was the first Palestinian organization to hijack airplanes in the 1960s and 1970s.

The group was responsible for the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rechavam Ze’evi in 2001, and its members joined with the Baader-Meinhof Gang (a West German radical group) to hijack an Air France Tel Aviv-bound flight in 1976, landing it in Entebbe, Uganda. PFLP members took credit for the house invasion and murder of the Fogel family in 2011 and was responsible for the massacre at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood in 2014 where four worshipers and an Israeli Druze police officer were murdered. The terror organization also praised its “comrades” for their role in the murder of Israeli Border Police office Hadas Malka, and wounding of four other Israelis in a June 16, 2017 attack in Jerusalem. In August 2019, a PFLP terror cell carried out a bombing against Israeli civilians, murdering 17-year-old Rina Shnerb, and injuring her father and brother.

The PFLP has never recognized the State of Israel and opposes all negotiations with Israel, instead calling for the “liberation” of all of “historical Palestine,” regularly by means of terror.

NGO Monitor has identified a broad network of Palestinian NGOs claiming to advance human rights or humanitarian interests that have links to the PFLP terror group. These connections include current and former NGO board members, officials, and employees who served in the PFLP or spoken on its behalf at public events and taken part in PFLP forums.

Funding

ACHA’s terror affiliation is antithetical to human rights norms and principles. Due to its affiliation with the PFLP, the provision of funds to ACHA are in likely violation of international, EU, and domestic terror financing and material support laws. The organization is therefore an inappropriate partner for governments and individuals seeking to further human rights in the region.

ACHA Staff with Ties to the PFLP

Younis Ahmed Al-Jaro

According to ACHA, Younis Ahmed Al-Jaro chairs ACHA’s board of directors.3 Although reported to have resigned in 2013 from his leadership role in the PFLP, Al-Jaro has continued to participate in multiple PFLP events and was called by the terrorist group “a great [Popular] Front man comrade” in 2014.

Previously, in 2015–2020, Al-Jaro chaired Al-Dameer’s board of directors.4 For more information on Al-Dameer’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s reports “Al-Dameer’s Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”

Al-Jaro (circled in red) participating in an official PFLP event held at ACHA in 2018, honoring PFLP senior member Ghassan Kanafani. Jaro is seated left to PFLP Central Committee member Jamil Mazhar (Source: https://pflp.ps/post/17444/)

  • On June 11, 2014, the Fatah Movement published an interview with Al-Jaro on the occasion of the 41st anniversary of “The [Che] Guevara of Gaza [Muhammad] Al-Aswads’ martyrdom.” Al-Jaro praised Al-Aswad and detailed their joint “special combat operations that caused unrest to the occupation…his vanguard role and personality had a decisive impact on the fact that he was totally surrounded [by loving people], and he is the ultimate symbol for all the people of Gaza…”
  • In June 2014, Al-Jaro spoke at a PFLP event in which he explained that “vacating leadership centers at the Front is not something new…it is a chance to introduce new blood and strengthen the spirit of democracy…the Arab and national depth is the foundation of confronting the Zionist occupation and its global imperialism allies.”
  • According to Palestinian media, in January 2014, al-Jarro spoke at a PFLP event honoring several members of the PFLP Central Committee on their retirement. During the event, Al-Jarro stressed the “need to reject differences and conflicts between the national and Islamic forces and unite within the vision and mechanism or program to achieve the desired goals.”

Bakr Hussein Abu Safiya

According to ACHA, Bakr Hussein Abu Safiya is a member of the ACHA’s board of directors.5

Abu Safiya appeared on the PFLP list for the scheduled May 2021 Palestinian Legislative Elections, which were postponed indefinitely. According to the PFLP, Abu Safiya is “a member of the PFLP’s central committee.” As of August 2020, Abu Safiya held the role consultant surgeon at UHWC’s Al-Awda hospital.

  • Following Israel’s August 2022 military operation against PIJ forces in Gaza, Abu Safiya took part in an official PFLP delegation to honor senior members of PIJ who were killed during the fighting.

Left: Abu Safiya (circled in red) in the mourning tent for senior members of PIJ, alongside other senior PFLP members. Right: The PFLP delegation, headed by PFLP Deputy Secretary-General Jamil Mizhar, visiting the PIJ mourning tent. (Source: https://pflp.ps/post/20918/)

Abu Safiya (circled in red) at the PFLP’s event commemorating the anniversary of PFLP Founder George Habash’s death. (Source: https://hadfnews.ps/post/94795/)

  • Abu Safiya spoke at a January 2022 PFLP event commemorating the death of multiple Gazans in the so called ‘Zeitoun Incident.’ During his speech, Abu Safiya said, “the massacres carried out by the Zionist enemy against our people have not and will not break the people’s resolve and shall never divert it from continuing its resistance until it will achieve freedom, reclaim its national rights and establish its Palestinian state from the river to the sea.”

Abu Safiya speaking at the January 2022 PFLP event. (Sources: https://hadfnews.ps/post/93871/; https://www.unews.com.lb/ar/archives/09/01/2022/11620/)

  • On October 17, 2020, Abu Safiya posted on Facebook, “On this day, October 17, 19 years ago, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades carried out the promise of retaliation announced by the PFLP Secretary General Ahmed Sa’adat [i.e., assassinated Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze’evi] to ‘redraw a red line for the Zionist entity.’ All [military] factions must retaliate on assassinations of commanders in the same way of the [Popular] Front until a red line will be redrawn. May the martyrs have mercy and eternal life.”

Abu Safiya hailed the PFLP’s assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze’evi and called for carry out similar attacks: “…Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades carried out the promise of retaliation…All factions must retaliate on assassinations of commanders in the same way of the [Popular] Front…”

  • On December 11, 2018, Abu Safiya posted on Facebook, “On this day in 1967 the Popular Front announced its establishment…the Front emphasizes that it is a combative group until the return to historic Palestinian [meaning all of Israel’s territory] will be achieved. Long live the anniversary of the establishment. May the martyrs have glory and eternal life. May our brave prisoners have freedom. Revolution until liberation of all the land of Palestine.”

Fayrouz Arafa

According to ACHA, Fayrouz Arafa is a member ACHA’s board of directors.6 According to several Arabic–language news outlets, Arafa was arrested in the 1970s due to her membership in the PFLP.

  • In 2015, the PFLP referred to Arafa as “the comrade, [Popular] Front revolutionary and historic fighter.”
  • In April 2020, Arafa participated in a PFLP event to “inaugurate the tomb of the military commander of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine forces in the early seventies and his two companions Kamel Al-Amsi and Abdel-Hadi Al-Hayek, who were martyred together after a heroic armed confrontation with the Israeli occupation in 1973.”
  • In July 2019, “comrade” Arafa participated in an event organized by the PFLP to “honor of its successful and outstanding students and comrades in high school… in the presence of the leadership of the Front in the North presented by members of the Central Committee, the governorate leadership, cadres, members and friends of the Front.”
  • In 2017, Arafa participated in a PFLP event “honoring the martyrs’ families” on the occasion of the PFLP Prisoner Day. PFLP senior members and armed terrorists were present.

Arafa (circled in red) at a PFLP Prisoner Day event; PFLP senior members and armed terrorists were present. (Sources: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=750268371799474&set=t.100005204555496&type=3; https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1433175606714174&set=t.100005204555496&type=3)

  • Arafa attended a March 2015 event, hosted by ACHA and attended by multiple senior members of the PFLP, which celebrated a book discussing the “fighting path of comrade Arafa” and another book on a former PFLP senior member Mahmoud Al-Gharbawi. During the events, Arafa congratulated the “plane hijacker pioneer who commanded men, the fighter comrade Leila Khaled” and hailed several female terrorists, such as Dalal Mughrabi, one of the perpetrators of the 1978 “Coastal Road massacre” in which 38 Israeli civilians were murdered, including 13 children, and Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, a PFLP member who was accidentally killed when preparing a bomb for an attack in Tel Aviv.
    • According to the PFLP, Al-Gharbawi is among the PFLP founders and was a member of its political bureau. He was arrested four times by Israeli authorities.

The PFLP’s official poster in honor of a book concerning the “fighter comrade Fayrouz Arafa.” (Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1711331642522633&set=t.100005204555496&type=3)

  • According to the PFLP, Arafa spoke at an April 22, 2015 event honoring Palestinian Prisoner Day. In her speech, Arafa discussed “her fighting experience, the period of her arrest in the Zionist occupation’s prisons and the secretive organizational activity at the PFLP.” Arafa also mentioned “women’s prominent role in armed fighting.”

Issa Saba

According to ACHA, Issa Saba is ACHA’s vicechair of the board of directors.7 Previously, Saba served on Al-Dameer’s board of directors in 2015–2020 and on the Palestinian Center for Human Right’s (PCHR) board of directors in 2013–2019. Multiple PCHR officials have ties to the PFLP, including its General Director Raji Sourani, who was publicly honored by the PFLP in 2014. (For more information read NGO Monitor’s report “Palestinian Centre for Human Right’s Links to the PFLP Terror Group.”)

Saba participated in several PFLP events and uses his social media to demonstrate support for the PFLP, its members, and terrorists affiliated to other terror groups:

Issa Saba (circled in red) participating in the official PFLP event honoring PFLP Founder George Habash (Source: https://hadfnews.ps/post/94795/)

  • Following the death of Samir Kuntar on December 20, 2015, Saba posted pictures of Kuntar, a senior Hezbollah operative who carried out a brutal attack in 1979 in which he murdered a man and his 4-year-old daughter, and caused the murder of another 2-year-old baby. Saba wrote, “Glory and internal life to the martyr hero Samir Kuntar, the brave fighter combatant leader. More than 40 years of a school of fighting, steadfastness and Sincere condolences to all the comrades of his path and his partners in prisons…”

Following the death of Kuntar, Saba hailed the brutal murderer and called him a “hero” and “brave leader” (Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1740347452855033&id=100006393856194)

  • On March 17, 2015, Saba participated in an event that celebrated two books that hailed PFLP members Mahmoud Al-Gharbawi and Fayrouz Arafa. Saba called Al-Gharbawi the “martyr national leader.” (See more on this event above.)
  • On April 3, 2015, Saba shared a picture of PFLP General Central Committee member Mansour Thabet, referring to him as a “dear friend, the comrade fighter” and writing “May you have glory and eternal life, may your sweet path be steady and presence within every mind of those who loved you and knew you…May your spirit have peace, you have all of our respect.”
    • According to the PFLP, Thabet was involved in attacks against IDF forces and was arrested several times, overall serving 19 years in prison.
  • On November 29, 2014, Saba shared a photo of Kozo Okamoto, and wrote, “Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese commando warrior, who joined the ranks of the Palestinian revolution ‘the PFLP’ believing in the its righteousness of its cause…he wounded the Hebrew entity at its heart on the day he carried out the heroic operation in Lod Airport in 1971…”
    • Okamoto, along with two others, was hired and trained by the PFLP to commit the Lod Airport Massacre, in which his group killed 26 people and injured 80 others.

Rami Murad

According to ACHA and Arabic-language sources, Rami Murad has served on ACHA’s board of directors at least since August 2021.8 In 2012–2013, Murad was a member of the “PFLP’s youth group,” the Progressive Student Labor Front (PSLF), and was referred to as a “comrade.”

Left: Murad (circled in red), speaking at a PSLF event, next to PFLP Central Committee member Jamil Mizher and Hamas senior member Ismail Radwan; Right: Murad next to an official PFLP poster of PFLP Secretary General Abu Ali Mustafa. (Source: https://www.facebook.com/ppyu.org/posts/371194669564753; https://elaph.com/Web/news/2010/9/598307.html)

Tariq Abu Al-Khair

Tariq Abu Al-Khair held a seat on ACHA’s board of directors in 2018–2020. Abu Al-Khair also served in UHWC’s board of directors in 2014-2018, and served as its chair in 2014-2015 and 2017.

  • On December 9, 2018 Al-Khair commented that “the PFLP is our pride and glory” to a Facebook user who wrote to him “you are the pride and glory of the PFLP.”
  • In August 2018, Abu Al-Khair participated in PFLP community activities in the Gaza Strip and was referred to by the PFLP as a “comrade.”
  • In 2014, Abu Al-Khair headed the Democratic Medical Association in Gaza Strip. According to the PFLP’s Al-Hadaf, the Democratic Medical Association is a union framework of the PFLP. In 2008, Abu Al-Khair was the deputy head of the Democratic Medical Association in northern Gaza Strip.
  • In 2014, Al-Khair was named by the PFLP as a comrade and a “member of the sub-committee of the PFLP’s central committee and head of its cultural operations in the northern [Gaza] district.”
  • As reported by the PFLP, in December 2013, Abu Al-Khair participated in the PFLP’s aid activities and was referred by the latter as a “comrade.”

Mona El-Farra

According to several Arabic-language sources, in 1999–2018, Mona El-Farra held a seat on ACHA board of directors. El-Farra was also the board’s deputy chair in at least 2012–2016. According to Arab media outlets, Mona El-Farra is “a founding member of UHWC.” According to MECA, El-Farra is currently MECA’s Director of Gaza Projects.9 El-Farra uses social media to demonstrate her support in the PFLP.

El-Farra (circled red, left) participating in an official UPWC event with PFLP leader and UPWC senior official Samira Abd Al-Alim (circled red, right). (Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=4126549894125071&id=757820970997997)

  • El-Farra attended the August 2021 board of directors meeting of UHWC and has cooperated on multiple occasions with UHWC.
  • On February 18, 2020, El-Farra wrote on Facebook, “Long live the resistance. Long live all the resistance’s women who were role models for our generation. The martyr hero Amina Dahbur and Leila Khaled are a source of pride for every Palestinian man and woman. Today is the anniversary of the hijacking of the El-Al plane that its hero was Leila Khaled and her comrades. Resistance is a right for an occupied people.”
  • On January 27, 2019, El-Farra shared an article marking the 11th anniversary of PFLP founder George Habash’s death and wrote, “…May your spirit rest in peace, the doctor [Habash’s alias] of the revolution.”
  • On December 23, 2018, El-Farra’s op-ed was published in the PFLP’s Al-Hadaf news outlet, on the subject of the first Intifada. El-Farra depicts her part in the “the Popular Committees for Health Services,” (the original name of UHWC), which was “politically sponsored by the PFLP.” El-Farra stated that, “Still, until now, I remember the events of this brave Intifada with much pride…although its peaceful nature and the protestors’ sufficing in [throwing] rocks, the occupation, as usual, confronted it with severe violence…it will remain a glorious and facing forward page in the history of our people’s struggle. I still take pride and honor that will shy away from this experience that is everlasting and full of stories of patriotic revolutionary action, in theory and in practice.”
  • In March 2015, El-Farra “contributed and sponsored” the PFLP’s Volunteer Work Committees official event in honor of the 39th Land Day. During the event, Sabr Al-Za’anin, the coordinator of the PFLP’s Volunteer Work Committees in Beit Hanoun, promised, “the martyrs all the Palestinian people from across the land, to continue the Palestinian fight and the struggle until Palestine in its entirety will be liberated…”

Rabah Muhanna

Other ACHA Staff Members’ Support for Terrorism

Hatem Abu Al-Qaraya

According to ACHA, Hatem Abu Al-Qaraya is ACHA’s executive director.10 Abu Al-Qaraya uses social media to demonstrate his support for the PFLP:

  • On August 3, 2021, Abu Al-Qaraya shared photos of a meeting with PFLP members and wrote, “I want to thank the comrades at the PFLP for their visit, which made us happy and filled our hearts with joy.”

Abu Al-Qaraya shared photos of a meeting with “comrades at the PFLP.” (Source: https://www.facebook.com/hatem.abulqaraya/posts/10159078323238557)

  • On May 5, 2019, Abu Al-Qaraya published a eulogy, on behalf of ACHA, for PFLP senior member Rabah Muhanna. In the statement, Abu Al-Qaraya sent condolences “to all the distinguished Muhanna family, the comrades in the PFLP and the Palestinians patriots for the passing of the great patriot man and member of the PFLP’s Political Bureau…May Allah have mercy on his soul and make his abode in his spacious gardens…”
  • In March 2012, before holding a role at ACHA, Abu Al-Qaraya shared a picture of PFLP Secretary-General Ahmed Sa’adat and wrote, “as long as heroes like these are among us, we are doing well and shall persist.” In 2011 as well, Abu Al-Qaraya shared the PFLP logo and a poster of PFLP leaders.

Abu Al-Qaraya shared a picture of PFLP Secretary-General Ahmed Sa’adat and hailed him. (Source: https://www.facebook.com/hatem.abulqaraya/posts/10150626622453557)

Hatem Abu Shaban

According to ACHA, Hatem Abu Shaban has served as a board member of ACHA since 2013.11 Abu Shaban openly supports terrorists and their actions on social media.

  • On March 11, 2020, Abu Shaban hailed the terrorist Dalal Al-Mugrabi and called her “the beautiful shining elegant face of the Palestinian people’s struggle…the commander of the Kamal Adwan operation [the Arabic name of the Coastal Road Massacre]…She killed 36 Israeli soldiers (sic) and was martyred as a result of a shot personally by Ehud Barak with eight other commando fighters…” Abu Shaban shared a poster of Al-Mugrabi with the text, “Dalal Al-Mugrabi, the legend that does not die.”

Abu Shaban shared a poster of the terrorist Dalal Al-Mugrabi and hailed her as “the beautiful shining elegant face of the Palestinian people’s struggle.” (Source: https://www.facebook.com/hatim.a.shaban/posts/10219127198863898)

  • On April 15, 2019, Abu Shaban shared a poster of Khalil Al-Wazir (aka Abu Jihad) with the text, “the compass that will never stray from the path, you will keep pointing at Palestine.” Abu Shaban wrote, “It happened on a melancholic and deeply saddening day, on April 16, 1988, the organizer, director and commander of the first intifada was martyred…Today is the 31st anniversary of the martyrdom of the prince of martyrs the hero commander Khalil Al-Wazir ‘Abu Jihad.’ Abu Jihad is a name that does not require further description or information. He shall remain everlasting in the history of the Palestinian people.”
  • In a July 9, 2017 Facebook post, Abu Shaban referred to PFLP spokesperson and member of its Political Bureau Ghassan Kanafani as “the martyr hero, the writer fighter” and claimed that his assassination was “a terrorist attack from the first degree.” Abu Shaban hailed Kanafani again on January 6, 2017, calling him “The martyr of Palestine, the great fighter.”
  • On February 26, 2017, Abu Shaban shared an article referring to PFLP founder George Habash’s as “the PFLP’s founder and director, Palestine’s ‘doctor’ [Habash’s alias], the great national fighter, the leader and unionist commander, the martyr George Habash. Since him, the [Popular] Front has not produced a great leader as him…”
  • On December 25, 2015, Abu Shaban hailed the terrorist Samir Kuntar and wrote, “The martyr Samir Kuntar is Palestine’s martyr and the prince of the Arab nation’s martyrs, regardless of whoever wishes otherwise, and whoever does not like it can go drink from Palestine’s sea…”
  • In an opinion piece published in Amad Press on April 6, 2015, Abu Shaban criticized the PA’s step to attain ICC membership, since “Palestine’s entrance to the ICC means that…it will also be possible to coerce the PA…to turn over Palestinian people accused of being war criminals…with no regard to their authority of position, be it the state’s president, a senior military commander or the lowest ranking soldier or person in the state, or the head of an organization or a group, a fighter, or a militant accused of committing an act of terror…and the State of Palestine would be obliged to immediately to turn over whoever the court required…since they will be prosecuted according to an indictment which charges against them various accusations referring to terrorist activity that included murder and not resistance to the occupation…as firing rockets at Israeli cities, bombing attacks in Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv etc…This is against the occupation’s resistance and against the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom and independence…”

Hejazi Abu Shanab

According to ACHA and Arabic-language sources, Hatem Abu Shaban has served as a board member of ACHA since April 2013.12 Abu Shanab is a member of Central Committee of the Palestinian People’s Party (PPP). Abu Shanab has participated in a PFLP official event and attended meetings with PFLP senior members.

  • In August 2018, Abu Shanab spoke at a PFLP’s Land Day event in Khan Yunis and said, “…there is a lack of commitment to the decisions of the Central Committee of the [Palestine Liberation] Organization, the most important of which is ceasing the security coordination [with Israel].”
  • In December 2014, Abu Shanab and other PPP members met PFLP senior members at the PFLP’s offices in Khan Yunis and awarded the PFLP the “Shield of Loyalty” in honor of the anniversary of the PFLP’s

Abu Shanab (circled in red) at the PFLP’s offices, awarding PFLP senior member Abu Saleh Al-Saiqaly (Source: https://pflp.ps/post/9623/)

  • Abu Shanab uses social media to disseminate the PFLP’s and the PPP’s official statements and to support terror groups and their actions. In May 2021, in the context of the 2021 Gaza conflict, Abu Shanab wrote, “The enemy has been defeated in the Gaza Strip and our people is more decisive to continue its national struggle with all its power and influence. It unleashes its struggle and resistance to achieve its political goals of liberation, independence, establishing the state and the return of the refugees. Glory to all who resisted…glory to the martyrs…glory and health to the wounded heroes.”

Suleiman Mohammed Shahin

According to ACHA, until his death in February 2022, Suleiman Shahin was a member of ACHA’s board of directors since at least since August 2021.13 According to UHWC, Shahin was “one of the union’s founders” and chaired its board in 2017–2019. UHWC is identified by Fatah as an official PFLP “affiliate” and by a 1993 USAID-engaged audit as the “the PFLP’s health organization.” For more information on UHWC’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Union of Health Work Committees’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”

 

Funding to ACHA

FunderYearAmount
European Union2020-2023€648,000 (for ACHA and its partners)
oPt Humanitarian Fund2021$649,999.32 (for ACHA and its partners)
2020-2021$486,764.05 (joint grants with CFTA and WAC)
2018-2021$860,443 (joint grant with WAC and Wefaq Society for Women and Child Care)
2020$501,502 (joint grant with PMRS and Ard El Insan)
2019-2020$314,004 (joint grant with CFTA and Aisha Association for Women and Child Protection)
KfW (Germany) via UNDP, UNDB and GIZ2020$168,660
NIS 175,000
MAP (UK)2019-2021$300,000
UNFPA2020$205,971
2019NIS 108,151
2018-2019$185,000
2018$92,915
UNRWA2020-2021$450,000
OCHA2020$252,403
2019NIS 24,482
2018$85,120
Terre des Hommes2021-2023$330,000
Médecins sans Frontières2020NIS 2,300
NGO Development Center2020$22,7180
Culture and Free Thought Association2020NIS 62,730