Israel: Using Terror Laws to Deny Funding to Civil Society Organizations – Statement Submitted by Partners for Transparency (A/HRC/50/NGO/137) (Excerpts)

/…

Israel: Using Terror Laws to Deny Funding to Civil Society Organizations

International human rights call increased recently to resume funding for six Palestinian civil society organizations that Israel designated as terrorist organizations without providing any public and documented evidence to substantiate their allegations(4). That is after donors stopped funding many of the Palestinian organizations included in that resolution. In January 2022, the Dutch government stopped funding UAWC, even though it had not established any terrorism suspicions (5). The European Commission cut off funding for the Palestinian Al-Haq organization due to the Israeli government’s decision to classify Al-Haq as a terrorist organization without verifying that (6). In June 2021, an Israeli military force stormed the headquarters of the Palestinian Health Work Committees and scatter its various contents, with its work suspended for six months due to the organization receiving funding from one of the entities classified by the Israeli government as terrorism. Partners for Transparency stresses that this decision lacks any legal procedures and represents an extension of the restriction on funding civil society organizations, targeting them based on the funding sources they obtain, even if they are legitimate(7).

/…

4- Israel Palestine UN experts call on governments to resume funding for six Palestinian CSOs designated by Israel as ‘terrorist organisations . Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. https://bit.ly/3LcnLiX

5- Union of Agricultural Work Committees. https://bit.ly/3lbWBhG

6- Statement Al-Haq about funding suspension imposed by the European Commission. Alhaq. https://bit.ly/3NdvSNB

7- Right-wing civil society in Israel as a model, NGO monitor, Madar, June 2021, https://bit.ly/3rkYsEw