There had previously been a dispute over a suspected letter from the German EU diplomat Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff to an umbrella organization of non-governmental organizations active in the Palestinian Territories.
Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff is an EU representative in the Palestinian Territories. In his letter of March 30, he made it clear that the 135 or so affected NGOs could continue to count on EU support - contrary to false information circulating.
It was not decisive whether the assisted persons maintained contacts with groups on the EU anti-terrorist list or sympathized with them. Only these groups themselves could not benefit from EU funding. The letter had caused an outcry in Israel.
In a letter to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which is available in several media, the Israeli organization NGO Monitor accused the EU of clearing the way for support for terrorist organizations.
“We have been documenting for years how some Palestinian civil society organizations misuse their mandates to promote hateful and often violent agendas.
This is particularly evident in civil society organizations associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is viewed by both Israel and the EU as a terrorist organization. ”The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also now alarmed.
"We are very concerned about this letter," said a spokesman for the Times of Israel. "It violates all of our agreements with the European Union and we intend to send a strong message to the representatives of the European Union in this regard."
In 2019, the EU had specified in a clause that beneficiaries of EU funding would have to ensure that no one would benefit from having links to organizations on the list of "restrictive measures to combat terrorism". In the Palestinian context, this list includes Hamas,
Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Individuals are not listed. In a letter to von der Leyen,
NGO Monitor asked the EU Commission to guarantee that the anti-terrorism clause would be fully implemented to prevent EU funds from being misused by those who support and advocate terrorism.
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