Worthy Christian News > Israel-Palestinian Conflict > EU Funding is Gettting Into the Hands of Palestinian Terrorists

EU Funding is Gettting Into the Hands of Palestinian Terrorists

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Terrorist groups have established a way to siphon off European funds designated for Palestinian civil society, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry (SAM) has said in a new report. The SAM publication follows a European Union announcement that it would continue to fund Palestinian “civil society organizations,” even if such groups include terrorists, Israel Hayom reports.

According to the SAM report, Palestinian terrorists have used European monetary donations to carry out terror activity in addition to civil society work: “The links to civil society entities in the west allows them a way of securing financial assistance that they could not receive any other way,” the report states.

In a recent example of this type of activity, Israeli security agency Shin Bet discovered European funding had gone to terrorists who murdered 17-year-old Rina Schnerb while she was hiking in 2019. Samar Arbid, leader of the cell that murdered the girl was a key figure in the so-called human rights organization Addameer.

In an appeal to the EU to block funding to terrorists, Rina Schnerb’s father Eitan wrote, “I was amazed to discover that Arbid was a member of the ‘human rights group’ Addameer. How can it be that people who sanctify death are active in human rights groups? How can it be that for years, they have been receiving millions of euros in aid from European nations?”
Schnerb said he had no doubt European countries did not intentionally support terrorism. However, he said: “they certainly understand that the links between Palestinian civil groups and terrorist organizations is a reality that must be condemned. I urge you: Do not turn a blind eye.”

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan added in a statement: “The EU has given in to the Palestinian steamroller of pressure. Millions of euros that went to Addameer show the real threat posed by the EU decision. This is a dangerous precedent.”