[Opinion] Europe’s failed (and forgotten) Gaza monitors
Professor Gerald M. Steinberg analyzes the failures of the European Union to maintain peace in Gaza.
Professor Gerald M. Steinberg analyzes the failures of the European Union to maintain peace in Gaza.
In June 2020, NGO Monitor sent a letter to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding German funding to terror linked Palestinian NGOs
In 2011-2018, the EU authorized grants of at least €25 million to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with ties to EU-designated terrorist groups.
In 2011-2017, the EU provided €18.3 million to projects involving Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), a non-governmental organization (NGO) linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
During a May 19, 2020 meeting of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi stated that he had instructed the heads of EU delegations to Israel and West Bank/ Gaza to “look deep” in to the allegations that some EU funds go to terror-linked or -supporting NGOs, declaring that such funding “will not be tolerated.”
On March 30, 2020, the EU Representative Office to the West Bank and Gaza sent a “clarification letter regarding the EU-funded contracts” to Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) appearing to give in to Palestinian pressure and effectively annul EU regulations that prohibit the transfer of EU funds to terror groups or individuals connected to these groups.
On April 30, NGO Monitor sent a letter to the President of the European Commission regarding the EU anti-terror clause.
During a December 20, 2019 meeting with EU officials, representatives from PNGO “refused to sign an EU grant request which stipulates among its criteria that beneficiaries must refuse to transfer any EU aid given to terrorist groups or entities." On December 30, multiple Palestinian NGOs, including PNGO members, launched a “Palestinian National Campaign to Reject Conditional Funding." which justifies the use of violence and claims that the “Palestinian resistance factions are not terrorist organizations,”
The European Commission disburses hundreds of millions of euros annually via aid frameworks to provide financial assistance to developing countries and promote EU principles abroad. One of the EU’s major aid programs is the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).