Middle East conflict: why Israel declared six NGOs to be terrorist organizations

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Israel Defense Minister Benny Gantz: Everyone knows that no movement against the Palestinians is to be expected from the new Israeli leadership

Photo: AMIR LEVY / Getty Images

When Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz declared six Palestinian human rights organizations to be terrorist groups last Friday, he triggered a political earthquake that was nonsensical for Israel. After all, it is about prominent organizations such as al-Haq, which denounces human rights violations by the Israeli occupation as well as misconduct by the Palestinian Authority. Addameer is also one of the organizations that are now banned. Addameer provides legal assistance to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

There are also the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees, the Defense for Children-International organization, which has its headquarters in Geneva, the Bisan Center for the development of a democratic civil society, and another organization for the development of agriculture. According to Gantz, they are said to have misused all financial aid from abroad, especially EU funds, to support the PFLP, the "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine", which is also classified as a terrorist group by the USA and the EU. It was best known in the 1970s for some spectacular aircraft hijackings.

Gantz's announcement has done Israel great damage on several fronts: The US State Department was amazed and angry that Israel had not informed the Biden administration in advance of this decision.

The EU and international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International immediately criticized Israel.

And of course the organizations themselves, like the Palestinian Authority, have massively criticized Israel for taking this step.

Alleged intelligence evidence

Israel claims there is intelligence evidence that funds received by all six organizations have been transferred to the PFLP.

In the next few days, an Israeli delegation plans to make its way to Washington to present its findings to the American allies.

Allegedly, two employees of one of these organizations are said to be members of the PFLP and responsible for the killing of the Israeli teenager Rina Shnerb.

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However, the EU is not impressed by the Israeli allegations and contradicts them. Brussels has already denied similar allegations by Israel in the past that there was never convincing evidence of indirect terrorist financing on the table, it was said every time.

Even if Israel had actually gathered enough material to support its allegations, Benny Gantz's decision is still an own-goal for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's new administration.

The political world had long since ceased to be interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in the Israeli occupation.

Politics in Washington is only determined by the three big Cs: »Corona, Climate (climate change), China«.

The EU has its own worries. Economic problems are far more important than the conflict in the Middle East, and last but not least, there is trouble in your own house, especially with Poland at the moment.

Involuntarily torn from the repression

In addition, everyone knows that no movement against the Palestinians is to be expected from the new Israeli leadership. The coalition of eight parties, whose spectrum ranges from the far left to the far right, cannot - with only one vote in the Knesset - formulate a policy towards the Palestinians, but can only maintain the status quo. No matter in which direction one would move, there would always be a threat of a break in the coalition, be it from the left or from the right. While the left parties dream of a two-state solution, some of the right-wing coalition members have spoken out against a Palestinian state. So not much can be done. An end to this government would not be in the interests of the Democratic US President Joe Biden,as this could mean a possible comeback of the right-wing populist and current opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Nobody wants that. Not even the EU. That is why Prime Minister Bennett is largely left alone when it comes to the occupation.

So Gantz's move has involuntarily torn friend and foe out of the general position of repression. The ban immediately sparked controversy within the fragile coalition. The left-wing Meretz immediately protested, complained that they had not been informed, and was skeptical of the alleged evidence that had been kept secret until now. The Labor Party reacted similarly. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, on the other hand, said that anyone who did not know the documents of the secret services could not afford a judgment. The fight against terrorism must be carried out with great severity. That sounds logical and serious, but diplomatically, Israel's move was nevertheless a flop. If the Bennett administration aimed to keep the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the shadow of the great world crises, so to speak,so it has now taken care of the exact opposite. Unless she can actually provide evidence to back up her claims to Washington and the world.