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"I will sue the new Dutch finance minister in the European Court of Justice for funding Palestinian terrorism" | Israel today

2022-01-07T12:50:59.760Z


The Dutch government's attitude towards Palestinian terrorist organizations is uneven • Funding for the "Farmers' Union" - recently declared by Israel as a terrorist organization and whose two members murdered the girl Rene Schneerv - has been cut off • As a key figure in Dutch funding for Palestinian organizations • Journalist Lucas Hartong decided to put an end to terrorist financing and filed a lawsuit against Minister Kak in the Dutch Supreme Court • In an interview with Israel Today he says: "I do this only to get justice for Rene and her family"


Two contradictory developments regarding Dutch funding for Palestinian terrorism took place this week: on the one hand, the Dutch government, which is currently ending its term at the end of the longest political crisis in the country's history, announced the cessation of funding in recent years. Terrorism due to its close ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. On the other hand, the Dutch Supreme Court has refused to hear a lawsuit filed by journalist Lucas Hartong against former foreign minister and future finance minister Siegrid Kuck, a key figure in Dutch-funded Palestinian organizations who is also married to a senior Palestinian official, Dr. Anis Al-Qaq. Hartong, a former member of the European Parliament for Geert Wilders 'Freedom Party and now a journalist and publicist, sued Kak for her responsibility to fund the Farmers' Committees Association while serving as Minister of Trade and International Development. The Dutch prosecution rejected the lawsuit last August.Hartong has appealed to the Supreme Court and it ruled this week that a minister can only be prosecuted on the basis of a royal decree or a decision of parliament. The appeal is therefore dismissed.

The "Association of Farmers' Committees" is considered by Israeli experts to be a "serious construction contractor" of the Dutch government in Judea and Samaria, especially in Area C, which is under Israeli supervision. Through this organization, the Dutch government - like other European governments - works to strengthen and expand the Palestinian hold on the territories in violation of the Oslo Accords and international law. The Palestinian organization - which allegedly deals with the support of Palestinian farmers - has received financial support from the Dutch government since 2007, and in the past 15 years it has a cumulative amount of about 21.5 million euros, ie about 86 million shekels. The murder of the girl Rene Shenrav in 2019 revealed the close ties between the Union of Farmers' Committees and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which was declared a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. Two members of the Popular Front Squad who murdered Shenrav were members of the Farmers' Committees Association.

The Dutch government initially denied any connection between the Palestinian "civilian" organization and the terrorist activities of the Popular Front. Last year, however, following a detailed report by the Israeli organization NGO Monitor, Foreign Minister Kak, who also served as Minister for International Development Cooperation and in this capacity, was responsible for funding Palestinian organizations, told the Dutch parliament that such ties did exist. The Minister announced the suspension of funding for the "Association of Farmers' Committees" and the opening of an independent review conducted by an external body of the government.

A source who followed the Dutch investigation says: "The question that was investigated was not whether there is a connection between the union and terrorism, but whether the Dutch government can continue to work with it.

That is, the test is intended to clean up the Palestinian organization and not to incriminate it.

It is quite clear that the Dutch government is interested in continuing to work with this organization in the future.

Hence the conclusions of the test. '

This is how the report, on which the Dutch decision to stop funding is based, states that no organizational connection was found between the union and the Popular Front or evidence of a flow of funds between the two bodies.

However, the report highlights the "dual role" that exists between the two bodies, ie memberships of senior executives in the management of the Farmers' Committees Association and on the Popular Front.

The Palestinians were quick to respond to the decision to suspend funding by declaring that it was a political decision made due to Israeli pressure.

The late Rene Shenrav,

"I'm very happy that the Netherlands stopped this funding," Lucas Hartong tells me. This matter has now been addressed. But, there is a very interesting aspect to the legal context of this issue, as the Netherlands has signed a number of international agreements and treaties, which prohibit terrorist financing. This is an art of the United Nations and the European Union. Despite this, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands refused to hear my claim on the grounds that only the King or Parliament could file a claim against a government minister. Since the Netherlands has ratified binding international agreements on the financing of terrorism, how can it be imagined that I can not sue previous government ministers or incumbent government ministers? The meaning of the court's position is that the signing of these agreements was an empty move. If you ratify an international agreement and do not implement it by the national legal system, a very serious contradiction is created. When looking, for example, at what is happening in Poland,The EU is highly critical of the fact that the Polish legal system has decided that national legislation takes precedence over European legislation. But, the EU has so far done nothing against the Netherlands because it refuses to properly implement the EU counter-terrorism treaty. This is an issue I intend to raise before the European Court of Justice. '

The Palestinians claim that this is a political decision.

is that so?

"The Dutch decision to stop funding is based on an independent review carried out by an external ministry that examined the links between the Union of Agricultural Labor Committees and the Popular Front.

The examination revealed very clearly that there is a dual role between the two organizations, i.e. people who serve in both, so it was decided to stop funding immediately.

I do not think this is a political decision as it is the result of an external investigation that lasted several months.

It was an independent decision of the Dutch government.

The lawsuit I filed against Kak helped create the conditions that enabled that decision. "

Are you waging this struggle on your own or are you gaining support from other bodies?

'I do it all on my own.

Of course I get advice here and there from people.

But there is no political body behind this move.

I do this only to achieve justice for Renee Nerv and her family.

I want terrorist financing to stop, period.

That's my only goal.

I do not think it's good that terrorism gets funding.

It needs to stop.

In the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and all countries. '

Are you in touch with Rene Schneerv's family?

"No.

I would be happy to be in touch with them. "

Could not it have been simpler to sue government officials than the minister?

"This is a point mentioned in the UN Convention against Terrorist Financing: If a citizen of a country that is a signatory to the Convention is financing terrorism, he or she should be prosecuted, whether he or she is an ordinary citizen or a minister. It does not matter. So I decided to go against the Minister. The law in the Netherlands also prohibits terrorist financing. This is not a personal move against her but because of her role. She, by the way, did not respond to my claim. She will be the finance minister in the new government, which in itself is unbelievable because she had to leave the government because of a no-confidence vote due to her failed performance when leaving Afghanistan and is now appointed kosher again. It is also a dangerous appointment for the Israeli cause, because I fear that it will again misuse Dutch taxpayers' money to finance Palestinian terrorism. We will keep an eye on her actions. '

Kak, 60, is the leader of the Dutch Liberal Left Party D66. In the last general election, held in March last year, this party became the second largest in the Dutch parliament with 24 seats out of 150. The People's Party for Freedom and Conservative Democracy of outgoing and incoming Prime Minister Mark Rutte won 34 seats. However, as the Dutch right-wing and center-right parties refuse to form a coalition with Geert Wilders' Freedom Party, the third largest party in parliament, a political tangle has once again been formed that necessitates the formation of a right-left coalition. The coalition negotiations, the longest in the history of the Netherlands, lasted 271 days. The next government, which will include members of four parties - the Conservatives, the Christian Democrats, the Christian Union and the D66 - will be sworn in this coming Monday. This will be Mark Rota's fourth government. For the first time, half of her ministers - 20 in number, will be women. For the first time, a woman, Kak, will serve as treasurer. Kak is a professional diplomat and has held various senior positions in the Dutch Foreign Ministry and at the United Nations.Among other things, she headed the UNRWA donor department in Jerusalem, headed the UN team that supervised without much success the dismantling of chemical weapons in Syria, and was a special UN coordinator in Lebanon from 2015-2017. She studied Arabic and international relations at a number of universities, including the American University of Cairo.

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Source: israelhayom

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