MEPs Push EU to Reconsider Funding to Terror-Linked Palestinian NGOs

By Lahav Harkov

The Jerusalem Post

14 May 2020

Last week, MEPs leading the Transatlantic Friends of Israel group, backed by the AJC, sent a letter to the EU's foreign envoy Josep Borrell expressing alarm that NGOs affiliated with terrorist groups are still eligible for funding.

"It cannot be the task of the EU's representative in Ramallah to reassure Palestinian NGOs that they can continue to be linked to EU-listed terror organizations and hire their members and supporters as long as those individuals themselves don't appear on the EU list," the letter reads.

MEPs from a number of parties and countries, led by Lukas Mandl of Austria, called in the letter for Borrell to launch an investigation and "ensure that EU taxpayer money is spent in line with EU values to advance EU policies." They also said the EU should conduct a general review of standards for funding to Palestinian groups "some of whom are employing terrorists...propagate antisemitism and promote the BDS movement against the Jewish state," including the Palestinian Authority's policy of paying terrorists and their families each month.