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Anti-Israel NGOs Spark European Calls for Reform

(Jerusalem Post) Benjamin Weinthal - Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, briefed members of the European Parliament on Tuesday in Brussels, outlining irregular funding practices for EU-funded NGOs in the Middle East, including organizations that seek to delegitimize Israel. "Some [EU] money goes to BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] and other ways to sabotage Israel's judicial system, he said, while presenting a report titled "Evaluating Funding for Political Advocacy NGOs in the Arab-Israeli Conflict." Bastiaan Belder, a Dutch MEP (member of European Parliament) and chair of the parliamentary delegation for relations with Israel, said, "I am deeply concerned about the findings of the report and I call upon the European Commission and the EU Delegation in Israel to stop the funding to NGOs that undermine Israel's legitimacy and the Middle East peace process." Sarah Ludford, a British MEP, said the report "raises serious concerns which the European Commission needs to answer in a very detailed, open and forensic manner, which it has not so far done....It is not acceptable for European taxpayers' money to fund political activities which are in basic contradiction to EU goals....To have EU money supporting the BDS agenda is shooting ourselves in the foot."
2014-02-21 00:00:00
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