It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, October 24, 2021
Israel designates 6 Palestinian rights groups as terrorist organizations, irking US and infuriating human rights orgs
BY SHIRA HANAU OCTOBER 24, 2021 Benny Gantz speaks at a Blue and White party meeting, June 29, 2020. The defense minister reportedly said that "anything that is not related to the coronavirus will wait.” (Noam Moskowitz)
(JTA) — Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that Israel’s government will consider six leading Palestinian rights organizations operating in the West Bank as terrorist groups, prompting its first public spat with the Biden administration.
The groups include some of the leading Palestinian civil society groups advocating for farmworkers, women, children, and Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails.
Gantz called out their alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group designated by the U.S. and others as a terrorist group. The PFLP was responsible for a string of plane hijackings in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the groups named by Gantz have been dogged by accusations from Israeli groups of ties to the PFLP for years.
By designating the groups as terrorist organizations, Israel can close the organizations’ offices, seize their assets and effectively stop donations to the groups. The groups named are Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center, Defense for Children International Palestine, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Ned Price, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said the Biden administration will ask Israel to clarify its reasons for the decision. He also said the Israeli government “did not give us advance warning” about the announcement.
“Officials in the American administration were updated in advance of the intention to make this declaration and they received intelligence information about the matter,” the official said.
Several human rights organizations around the world condemned Gantz’s announcement on Friday.
“This appalling and unjust decision is an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement. For decades, Israeli authorities have systematically sought to muzzle human rights monitoring and punish those who criticize its repressive rule over Palestinians,” the organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint statement.
New Israel Fund, a progressive Jewish organization operating in Israel and the United States, called the announcement “repressive.”
“At a time when both Palestinians and Israelis need civil society to work overtime, we stand with all those who work to hold their governments to account,” the group said.
At the same time, organizations that had advocated for the designation for years celebrated.
“The Israeli announcement confirms what our research has shown years – this time 6 Palestinian NGOs were designated as terrorist organizations as part of the PFLP network. All are funded by European gov’ts and deeply involved in political warfare against Israel,” NGO Monitor, an Israeli organization that publishes reports on non-governmental organizations that work on Israel-Palestine related matters, said in a tweet.
Israel wants to silence rights groups reporting on violations: NGO official
Palestinian NGO official told The New Arab that Israel adopted "political decisions" against Palestinian civil organisations to keep themselves silent towards violations against Palestinians.
He said that "for many decades, Israel is seeking to shut up all the civil human rights organizations operating in the Palestinian territories, to continue its ongoing violations against the Palestinian people, including their lands. (Getty)
Israel wants to shut down civil rights groups operating in occupied Palestinian territories who have been reporting on Israeli violations against Palestinians, an official from Al-Haq - one of the NGOs Israel designated as a "terrorist organisation" this week - has told The New Arab.
Tel Aviv has adopted "political decisions" against Palestinian rights organisations in attempt to silence them after they reported on its illegal activities against local Palestinians, Shawan Jabarin, the vice president of Al-Haq said.
"For many decades, Israel has tried to silence to all the civil human rights organisations operating in the Palestinian territories, so it can continue ongoing violations against the Palestinian people living under occupation," Jabarin said.
"It is unacceptable to stand by silently and watch Israeli aggression against Palestinians," Shawan stressed, adding that "this is the main reason that pushed Israel to label us as a terrorist organisations."
On Friday, Benny Gantz, the Israeli defence minister, declared six Palestinian human rights groups as "terror organisations", alleging that they were operating as "an arm" for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
"Those organisations are active under cover of civil society institutions, but on the ground, they belong to an arm of the PFLP leadership, which means that they are working against the existence of Israel," Gantz said in a statement.
Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense for Children-International, The Union of Palestinian Women's Committees, the Bisan Research and Advocacy Center and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees - Palestine's most high-profile NGOs - were outlawed.
Under a 2016 statute, the declaration enables Israeli authorities to close the nonprofits' offices, seize their assets and ban supporting their activities.
"They may be able to close us down. They can seize our funding. They can arrest us. But they cannot stop our firm and unshakeable belief that this occupation must be held accountable for its crimes," Jabarin said.
Jabarin also criticised the timing of the announcement, which was late on Friday, saying that "when Gantz issues such an order on Friday, it means he doesn't want the world to see his actions."
Mohammed El-Kurd, a prominent activist, poet and reporter from occupied East Jerusalem's threatened Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, condemned the move as a "clear declaration of war against Palestinian civil society".
"This doesn’t mean that one should shy away from supporting these organizations [and] we should all stay posted to see what future communal efforts are needed from us to fight [against] this vicious campaign," he tweeted.
Amnesty and HRW, who collaborate extensively with many of the impacted organisations, called the move an "appalling and unjust decision" and "an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement".
"For decades, Israeli authorities have systematically sought to muzzle human rights monitoring and punish those who criticize its repressive rule over Palestinians," they said.
The international NGOs acknowledged travel bans and deportation have menaced their workers, though "Palestinian human rights defenders have always borne the brunt of the repression."
Hitting out at the international community for its "decades-long failure… to challenge grave Israeli rights abuses", encouraging their "brazen" behaviour, Amnesty and HRW turned to the global response.
"How the international community responds will be a true test of its resolve to protect human rights defenders.
"We are proud to work with our Palestinian partners and have been doing so for decades. They represent the best of global civil society. We stand with them in challenging this outrageous decision."
Israel’s coalition at odds over designation of PFLP-linked organizations as terrorist groups
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz calls the move “highly problematic”; Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked calls it an “important move based on solid intelligence.”
BY ARIEL KAHANA Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz addresses the Knesset during a memorial ceremony marking 26 years since the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, Oct. 18, 2021. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90.
(October 24, 2021 / Israel Hayom) Israel’s decision last week to declare six Palestinian human rights groups terrorist organizations is causing tension in the country’s fragile coalition.
“It is highly problematic to define civil society organizations as terrorist groups,” said Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, leader of the left-wing Meretz Party, on Saturday. “The matter must be examined carefully because it has implications for human rights and democracy. The defense establishment must present its findings and clear evidence to the public,” he added.
On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that the six groups—Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees—operate as arms of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The PFLP is considered by several countries to be a terror organization, including the United States and the European Union.
Later in the day, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price claimed that Israel had failed to provide an advance warning of the move and said Washington would seek an explanation. The announcement also caused backlash from the European Union, the Palestinian Authority, international human rights organizations and progressive Democrats. However, officials in Israel insist that both the Biden administration and the European Union—both of whom have funded the Palestinian groups in the past—were briefed on the decision before it was announced.
Labor Party MK Naama Lazimi said on Saturday that “unless intelligence led to the declaration of the Palestinian human rights organizations as terror groups, the move is serious and certainly puzzling for a sovereign state that should not only not flinch away from human rights groups,” but should support them.
In response, Blue and White MK Yael Ron Ben-Moshe criticized Lazimi, saying her comments were uncalled for given that it was “an investigation by the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] and the defense and justice ministries that found that certain organizations aid terrorism, engage in terrorism and its senior officials are arrested for terrorist activity.”
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked commended Gantz on the decision, calling it “an important move based on solid intelligence from the Shin Bet and [the IDF] General Staff.”
These organizations, she said, had “disguised” themselves as human rights groups for years. These groups, she added, “actually aid terror activities by the PFLP and fuel support for the BDS [movement]. Many countries have funded these organizations, and it is good that they [the defense and justice ministries] are putting an end to it.”
Palestinian human rights groups refuse to be silenced by Israeli terror designation
Palestinians attend a rally organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in Gaza City, in June 2021
PALESTINIAN human rights organisations have called for international solidarity, branding Israel’s designation of six leading organisations as terrorist groups part of a “sinister plot” to silence resistance.
At a joint press conference on Saturday, the groups condemned the move by Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz as “an alarming and unjust escalation of attacks against the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom, justice and the right to self-determination…”
Mr Gantz accused six organisations, including al-Haq, Addameer and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, of links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist organisation that Israel considers a terrorist group.
He said that the human rights organisations and NGOs raised money through “a variety of forgery and deceit” and used it to fund the activities of the PFLP.
But the groups rejected the terror allegations as baseless smears, noting that many of them had played a leading role in the case for charges to be brought against Israel for war crimes against the Palestinian people at the International Criminal Court.
Al-Haq director general Shawan Jabarin said that the allegations were a result of “the Israeli failure to challenge the work of the organisation on the basis of law and evidence, instead using its political power as an occupying colonial regime with the ability to create the law that serves its illegal interests.”
Addameer and Defence for Children International said that the banning of the human right groups was part of “an attempt to eliminate Palestinian civil society,” while the United Nations said that it was “alarmed” at the decision.
“These designations are the latest development in a long, stigmatising campaign against these and other organisations, damaging their ability to deliver on their crucial work,” a UN statement said.
Samidoun, which was designated a terror organisation earlier this year, called for Israel to be confronted with “action and resistance.”
The group said: “This repression must inspire us to build greater mutual defence and solidarity against all attempts to use the terrorist label to criminalise Palestinian resistance, action and organising.”
It added that the term “terrorist” had become meaningless when applied by the Israeli government, recalling that President Isaac Herzog had used it against US ice cream firm Ben and Jerry’s after it said that it would no longer sell its products in illegal settlements.
The international community, including human rights groups, civil society organisations and the UN, were urged to speak out and the groups also called for “solid and concrete measures” to ensure that the terror designation is revoked.
THE MONINGSTAR UK
Counterterrorism Off the Rails: Israel’s Declaration of Palestinian Human Rights Groups as “Terrorist” Organizations
On Friday, Oct. 22, 2021, Israeli Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, declared six West Bank Palestinian civil society organizations as “terrorist organizations.” Among them are prominent and well-established human rights organizations such as Al-Haq – which has been active in the occupied territories since 1979. The declaration has received sharp rebukes from international and Israeli human rights groups, the UN, and severalmembers of the U.S. Congress. The U.S. State Department requested Israel to provide explanations for this move, and some left wing members of the Israeli cabinet have requested that Gantz suspend the declaration. Israel asserts that the organizations “belong and constitute an arm of the organization[al] leadership” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — a small, far-left group designated by Israel, the U.S. and the EU as a terrorist organization — and are used to funnel money to the PFLP’s armed activities, as well as to promote other PFLP activities. The Palestinian organizations, unsurprisingly, deny these allegations vehemently and claim that they are being targeted as part of an ongoing and broadening campaign of political persecution and silencing.
In the balance of this article, we make two arguments. The first is that Israel’s Counterterrorism Law of 2016, which forms the legal basis for Gantz’s declaration, is flawed beyond repair. It reflects the severe danger that inheres in laws of this kind, the recent declaration against Palestinian human rights groups being one radical example.
The second claim goes beyond the problematic nature of this specific law and focuses on the wider context of the Israeli declaration. Taken together, the defective law and the political context must lead the international community, including the United States, to firmly reject this new declaration.
In 2021, it should be clear to everyone that criminalizing human rights groups on the basis of classified intelligence is absolutely unacceptable.
A Defective Law
The Israeli Counterterrorism Law of 2016 was introduced to replace and update older laws, including emergency legislation dating back to the British Mandate, which targeted both Jewish and Arab resistance to British rule. Its stated rationale was to replace antiquated and draconian provisions with those fitting a democracy. Sadly, this is far from what happened. While the law includes many problematic provisions, its dangers are perhaps best reflected in its granting to the Minister of Defense the power to declare a group as a “terrorist organization” (Chapter 2, art. A).
Such a declaration bears severe consequences. The most dramatic of these is the instantaneous subjection of an organization’s employees to criminal penalties going forward, and the authority to seize the organization’s assets. This means that the entire staff of Palestinian human rights organizations — from lawyers to researchers — can be potentially jailed, and that Israeli forces can now enter their premises and seize their property. Moreover, the declaration does not only affect the organization itself. It might criminalize those who assist in its activities. Potentially, this includes Israeli and foreign NGOs and legal and other professionals that are in regular contact with the banned organizations.
Given the human rights interests at stake with such a declaration, one would expect the process for making it to be as exacting and transparent as possible. The Counterterrorism Law, however, does the opposite, leaving those it targets with little to no protection. First, a group almost always learns it was declared as a terrorist organization ex post facto. There is no right to a hearing prior to the decision, and no forum where an organization can present evidence to prevent the declaration. It is only after a decision is made that the organization is invited to rebut the declaration. Yet, it is up to the minister of defense — the same official that made the declaration — to decide whether to uphold the organization’s petition and reverse the ministry’s decision.
Second, although the law gives the organization an ex post “hearing,” the organization is effectively destined to fail in reversing a declaration. The minister’s decision will almost always be based on classified intelligence, and, according to the law, there are no disclosure obligations, including to the target organization. Thus the right to a hearing provided by the law is barely worthy of this name. In short, the organization is formally free to request that the declaration be reversed, but a successful rebuttal is all but completely impossible. How can one refute allegations one does not know and in this setting?
Third, an option remains to petition the Supreme Court to strike down the declaration. But similar problems that haunt the process of a declaration persist here as well. The Court has long allowed the use of secret evidence in its proceedings. In all likelihood, should a petition be made, the state will argue that the declaration was based on classified information, which can be disclosed to the Court only ex parte. At this stage, the organization — like all Palestinians that seek to challenge administrative actions based on classified intelligence — would have to make a Kafkaesque choice: if it refuses the ex parte procedure, it loses, since the state will enjoy the presumption of regularity. If it accepts, it will most likely lose, because it won’t be able to refute the secret evidence of which it has no knowledge — while participation will help legitimize both the process and substantive decision.
To sum up this point, the Counterterrorism Law provides a vestige of due process but in fact allows Israel’s security apparatus almost unfettered discretion. This is not a theoretical claim. It has been the case with administrative detention of Palestinians for decades (albeit based on other pieces of legislation), and as we see now, will also be the case with Palestinian human rights groups.
A Disturbing Political Context
While there is much to be said about Israel’s Counterterrorism Law, the real story here is the broader context in which the NGO declaration operates. We have no access to the evidence. The state asks us to believe that well respected Palestinian groups, funded for years by major European states, are actually fronts for the fringe PFLP. To many in the Israeli human rights community, this sounds shockingly ludicrous. But one does not need first hand acquaintance with these organizations to be highly suspicious of this declaration. In a sense this action is but another case – such as the attack on the Gaza media tower during the 2021 hostilities in Gaza – in which the state holds all of the information, refuses to disclose it, yet expects the public to accept versions that seem counterintuitive at best.
The most important, and glaringly obvious, source of skepticism is the fact that Israel is an occupying power, and the organizations seek to expose the human rights abuses which take place under this occupation. There is an inherent conflict of interest here, in which “security considerations” are intermingled with Israel’s now explicitly stated policy to maintain the occupation and to entrench its settlements.
This recent move is also not isolated, as it appears to be a part of a pattern to curtail human rights activities in the occupied territories. In 2019, Israel expelled Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director for alleged violations of its anti-boycott law (which applies also to boycotting Israeli settlements). In 2020, Israel denied visas to UN human rights officials following the UN’s business and human rights report on corporate activities in West Bank settlements. This took place amidst a campaign by the government against Israeli human rights groups (which has been somewhat put on hold following the fall of the Netanyahu government). While the new Israeli government also includes parties that oppose the occupation, the government was formed on the basis of maintaining the status quo in the occupied territories — which effectively translates to continuing the far right policy of previous governments. Against this backdrop, Friday’s declaration appears to be part of a wider strategy to counter organizations that the government proclaims are engaged in “delegitimization” of the state.
A further point of concern and suspicion arises when comparing Israel’s aggressive move against Palestinian NGOs with its non-response to the alarming increase in settler violence in recent months. IDF forces regularly refrain from interfering in such attacks, sometimes actively protecting the participants from Palestinians, arguing that it is not the IDF’s job to deal with Israeli citizens. Needless to say, no settler group has been declared a terrorist organization, and barely no suspects, for that matter, have been prosecuted or punished for these acts of violence. A firm understanding of this discriminatory background should lead any objective analyst to treat the state’s administrative measure with utmost scrutiny.
The wider legal and political context also pushes toward suspicion and concern. As is well known, the International Criminal Court has recently opened its investigation into the situation in Palestine, and some of the banned Palestinian groups have been actively engaging with the Court. Some of them have also been vocal in advancing allegations that the crime of apartheid is committed against Palestinians – allegations that have been recently adopted by some mainstream international human rights organizations. In parallel, groups like Al-Haq have been increasingly active in calling out human rights abuses by the Palestinian Authority, as part of an outcry which reached a boiling point after the death of activist Nizar Banat in a Palestinian jail. Israel relies on the Palestinian Authority for security coordination. In some respects, there may even be an overlapping interest on the part of the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority to undermine some of these groups; but regardless of that potentially shared interest, the Israeli Defense Ministry’s declaration comes at a time when the human rights organizations are gaining significant traction for their claims against Israel at the international level.
In light of this broader context, it simply cannot be accepted that well-known and widely respected Palestinian human rights groups be designated as “terrorist organizations” by executive fiat and on the basis of classified intelligence. The reasons are too murky, the interests too conflicting, and the stakes are far too high for this extreme action to pass as tolerable. In general, no legal system worthy of its name should provide for the designation of human rights groups as “terrorist organizations” by decree. Failure to reverse the course in Israel will surely undermine efforts to prevent a similar lurch toward closing off dissent and human rights monitors in other countries. Photo image: Al-Haq participates in 6th Session of the UN open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights between Oct. 26-30, 2020
Adam Shinar (@adam_shinar) is associate professor at Harry Radzyner Law School, Reichman University.
Palestinian rights groups see muzzle in Israel's terror tag Israel Palestinians Rights Groups
Shawan Jabarin, director of the al-Haq human rights group, at the organization's offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. Israel on Friday, Oct. 22, declared six prominent Palestinian human rights groups to be terrorist organizations, saying they were secretly linked to a left-wing militant movement. It was not immediately clear what the distinction would mean for the groups, most of which also protest rights violations by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)More JACK JEFFERY Sat, October 23, 2021
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Activists called on the international community Saturday to help reverse Israel's unprecedented designation of six Palestinian human rights groups as terrorist organizations, a label that effectively outlaws them.
They said the decision amounts to an attempt to silence groups that have documented Israel's harsh treatment of Palestinians over the years. Some of the groups have close ties with rights organizations in Israel and abroad.
Israel claims the targeted groups were a front for a small PLO faction with a violent history, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Israel’s terror label for the six groups, including some that receive European funding, appears to have caught the United States and Europe off-guard. Israel later insisted some Biden administration officials were notified ahead of time.
The move against the rights groups comes at a time when efforts to negotiate the terms of a Palestinian state alongside Israel are hopelessly bogged down. For years, the U.S. and Europe have been engaged in politically less costly conflict management, rather than pushing for a solution, while Israeli settlements on occupied lands sought for a Palestinian state have continued to expand.
Amid the paralysis, Europe, in particular, has invested in strengthening Palestinian civil society, an effort now seemingly being challenged by Israel's decision to outlaw well-known rights groups.
The terrorism label would allow Israel to raid the groups’ offices, seize assets, arrest employees and criminalize funding and expressions of support.
Rights groups in Israel and abroad have expressed outrage over the “terror” label.
Palestinian activists said they are counting on international pressure to get the decision reversed.
“We hope that the International community will put enough pressure on Israel so that it will back down,” Ubai Aboudi, head of the Bisan Center for Research and Development, one of the targeted groups, said Saturday. Aboudi said he was previously charged by Israel with being a PFLP member, but denied ever belonging to the group.
Sahar Francis, the director of the prisoners rights group Addameer, told a news conference that she was grateful for the international statements of support, and that "we expect this campaign and pressure to continue in order for it to be fruitful.” Addameer is also one of the targeted groups.
Shawan Jabarin, who heads the veteran rights group Al-Haq, said Israel's designation came as a surprise and that the groups had not been given a heads-up. Two of the six groups said they would not be forced underground despite the uncertainty of their new status,
An Israeli defense official alleged in a statement Saturday that the six groups “operate as an organized network” under the leadership of the PFLP. The statement claimed the groups serve as a lifeline for the PFLP through fund-raising, money laundering and recruiting activists.
It also named several members of the rights groups who were later arrested as alleged members of the PFLP military wing. The small PLO faction has a political party and a military wing that has carried out attacks that killed Israelis.
The PFLP is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and Western countries.
The six groups have denied the allegations and have denounced Israel’s terrorism designation as a blatant attempt to squash reporting on rights abuses in the occupied territories, mainly by Israel, but also by the increasingly authoritarian Palestinian autonomy government.
The U.N Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said Saturday that the reasons cited by Israel’s defense minister were “vague or irrelevant,” and denounced his decision as the latest move in a “long stigmatizing campaign” against the organizations.
The European Union delegation to the Palestinian territories acknowledged financing activities by some of the rights groups. It said past allegations of the misuse of EU funds by partners “have not been substantiated” but that it takes the matter seriously and is looking into it.
“EU funding to Palestinian civil society organizations is an important element of our support for the two-state solution,” it said Friday.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, said it had not been given advance warning about the decision and would seek more information. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Friday that “we believe respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, and a strong civil society are critically important to responsible and responsive governance.”
The other four groups targeted by Israel include Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees. The majority of the organizations target human rights violations by Israel as well as the Palestinian Authority, both of which routinely detain Palestinian activists.
FOLLOWING IN PUTIN'S FOOTSTEPS
Israel's defense minister names 6 Palestinian NGOs terrorist organizations Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz arrives for the traditional group photo of the new government with President Reuven Rivlin on June 14. Gantz on Friday named six Palestinian nongovernmental organizations as terrorist organizations.
Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz Friday declared six Palestinian nongovernmental organizations as "terrorist organizations," a move that brought immediate condemnation from Palestinian officials and some human rights groups.
Gantz's Defense Ministry said groups operating in a network run by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine fell in the terrorism organization category.
"The security organizations will continue to act and intensify the strikes against terrorism and the terrorist infrastructure everywhere, and by all means," Gantz said, according to the Jerusalem Post. "I call on the countries of the world and international organizations, to assist in this fight, and to avoid contact with companies and organizations that supply materials to terrorism." The six groups are 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. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh denied the charges that the organizations were terrorist groups.
"The Israeli decision amounts to a serious violation of international law," Shtayyeh said, according to Palestinian news outlet WAFA. The targeted institutions operate in accordance with Palestinian law, and work in partnerships with international institutions."
"This appalling and unjust decision is an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement," the groups said. "For decades, Israeli authorities have systematically sought to muzzle human rights monitoring and punish those who criticize its repressive rule over Palestinians.
"While staff members of our organizations have faced deportation and travel bans, Palestinian human rights defenders have always borne the brunt of the repression."
Palestinian rights groups outraged by Israel’s terror tag
Activists call on international community to help reverse terrorism label
Sahar Francis, director of Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer, speaks, as Shawan Jabarin, director of the al-Haq human rights group, right, and Ammar Hijazi, representative Palestinian Minister of Foreign Minister, left, listens during a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, October 23, 2021. AP
Israel claims the affected groups are a front for a small faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) with a violent history, known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Israel’s terror label for the six groups, including some that receive European funding, appears to have caught the US and Europe off guard.
Israel later insisted some officials from the administration of US President Joe Biden were notified in advance.
The terrorism label would allow Israel to raid the groups’ offices, seize assets, arrest employees and criminalise funding and expressions of support.
Rights groups expressed outrage over the “terror” label.
Palestinian activists said they were counting on international pressure to have the decision reversed.
“We hope that the International community will put enough pressure on Israel so that it will back down,” said Ubai Al Aboudi, head of the Bisan Centre for Research and Development, one of the affected groups.
Palestinians attend a rally organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in Gaza City. AP
Mr Al Aboudi said he was previously charged by Israel with being a PFLP member, but denied ever belonging to the group.
Sahar Francis, the director of the prisoner rights group Addameer, said she was grateful for the international statements of support, and that “we expect this campaign and pressure to continue in order for it to be fruitful.”
Addameer is also one of the affected groups.
Shawan Jabarin, who heads the veteran rights group Al Haq, said Israel’s designation came as a surprise and that the groups had not been given notice. Two of the six groups said they would not be forced underground despite the uncertainty of their new status.
An Israeli defence official alleged on Saturday that the six groups “operate as an organised network” under the leadership of the PFLP. The official said the groups serve as a lifeline for the PFLP through fund-raising, money laundering and recruiting activists.
The six groups have denied the allegations and denounced Israel’s terrorism designation as an attempt to silence reporting on rights abuses in the occupied territories, mainly by Israel, but also by the increasingly authoritarian Palestinian autonomy government.
Allegations denied
The six groups denied the allegations and have denounced Israel’s terrorism designation as an attempt to silence reporting on rights abuses in the occupied territories, mainly by Israel, but also by the increasingly authoritarian Palestinian autonomy government.
The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said the reasons cited by Israel’s defence minister were “vague or irrelevant” and denounced his decision as the latest move in a “long stigmatising campaign” against the organisations.
The EU delegation to the Palestinian territories acknowledged financing activities by some of the rights groups. It said past allegations of the misuse of EU funds by partners “have not been substantiated” but that it takes the matter seriously and is looking into it.
Israel designates Palestinian civil society
groups as terrorists, U.N. 'alarmed'
A girl wearing a protective face mask and the headband of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) looks on during a rally to show solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Maher Al-Akhras
Fri, October 22, 2021
By Rami Ayyub
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel on Friday designated six Palestinian civil society groups as terrorist organisations and accused them of funnelling donor aid to militants, a move that drew criticism from the United Nations and human rights watchdogs.
Israel's defence ministry said the groups had ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP), a left-wing faction with an armed wing that has carried out deadly attacks against Israelis.
The groups include Palestinian human rights organisations Addameer and Al-Haq, which document alleged rights violations by both Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.
"(The) declared organizations received large sums of money from European countries and international organizations, using a variety of forgery and deceit," the defence ministry said, alleging that the money had supported PFLP's activities.
The designations authorise Israeli authorities to close the groups' offices, seize their assets and arrest their staff in the West Bank, watchdogs Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint statement.
Addameer and another of the groups, Defense for Children International - Palestine, rejected the accusations as an "attempt to eliminate Palestinian civil society."
The United Nations Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories said it was "alarmed" by the announcement.
"Counter-terrorism legislation must not be used to constrain legitimate human rights and humanitarian work," it said, adding that some of the reasons given appeared vague or irrelevant.
"These designations are the latest development in a long stigmatizing campaign against these and other organizations, damaging their ability to deliver on their crucial work," it said.
Israel's ally the United States was not given advance warning of the move and would engage Israel for more information about the basis for the designations, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.
"We believe respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and a strong civil society are critically important to responsible and responsive governance," he said.
But Israel's defence ministry said: "Those organizations present themselves as acting for humanitarian purposes; however, they serve as a cover for the 'Popular Front' promotion and financing."
An official with the PFLP, which is on United States and European Union terrorism blacklists, did not outright reject ties to the six groups but said they maintain relations with civil society organisations across the West Bank and Gaza.
"It is part of the rough battle Israel is launching against the Palestinian people and against civil society groups, in order to exhaust them," PFLP official Kayed Al-Ghoul said.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said the "decision is an alarming escalation that threatens to shut down the work of Palestine's most prominent civil society organizations."
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians seek the territories for a future state.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub in Tel Aviv; Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Stephen Farrell in Jerusalem; Editing by William Maclean and Mark Porter)
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