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The End of Europe's Romance with Palestinian Terror?

(Israel Hayom) Gerald M. Steinberg - In 2004, a European Parliament delegation visiting Israel asked me to brief them on EU funding for Palestinian and Israeli political NGOs under the banners of human rights, peace and other worthy causes. But before I could speak, an EU official tried to prevent my presentation, declaring that I was about to reveal state secrets. The details of the deep and often personal European relationships with the leaders of these NGOs were and remain closely guarded state secrets. This strange and fundamental departure from the transparency that is central to democratic norms explains why year after year, the members of an NGO network linked to a terror organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), are among the main recipients of European funding. Since 2011, the European governments have provided at least 200 million euros to these organizations, including 40 million from the European Union, and probably more from subcontracting that is not reported and from grants that remain hidden. Recently, however, recognition of the need for independent oversight regarding these NGO relationships has gradually increased. Oliver Varhelyi, EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement (which has jurisdiction over some of the seven distinct EU funding mechanisms), ordered a comprehensive investigation of terror ties involving NGO grantees and declared that such funding "will not be tolerated." The writer, a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and heads the Institute for NGO Research in Jerusalem.
2021-05-10 00:00:00
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