EU cancels grant to Palestinian organization that refuses to sign anti-terror clause
The European Union cancels a grant to a Palestinian nonprofit that refused to sign a so-called anti-terrorism clause that would obligate it to ensure that none of the funding goes to members of terrorist organizations.
The Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights had secured 1.7 million euros for a project called “Mobilizing for Justice in Jerusalem,” which was meant to expose alleged Israeli human rights violations and “international crimes in Jerusalem.”
But the organization refused to sign the article 1.5 of Annex II of the “General conditions applicable to European Union-financed grant contracts for external actions,” because it “criminalizes the Palestinian struggle against oppression and requires the recipient organization to perform ‘screening’ procedures which amounts to policing its own people,” the group says in a press release.
The article stipulates that grant beneficiaries must ensure that no members of EU-listed terrorist groups benefit from any of the funded programs.
“The inclusion of this article to contracts with Palestinian organizations contradicts the national role of Palestinian civil society institutions in the struggle for freedom from Israeli colonialism and apartheid,” Badil’s statement reads.
“Further, the article violates both Palestinian and international law, as well as the declared obligations of the EU itself.”
An Israeli watchdog monitoring EU funding of Palestinians groups welcomes the EU’s decision to cancel funding for Badil’s project.
“We applaud the EU for standing strong in the face of pressure and enforcing its anti-terror clause,” says Olga Deutsch, vice president of Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor.
“There is no question that radical groups like Badil, who not only have a history of promoting anti-Semitism and rejection of Israel, but who will not commit to not working with terror, have no business receiving funding from the EU or any other government.”
— Raphael Ahren