Israel giving $1.3 million to NGO in West Bank outposts that’s under Western sanctions — report

The Israeli government is providing an NIS 4 million ($1.3 million) grant to a nonprofit organization operating in illegal West Bank settlement outposts that was sanctioned by six Western countries last month, Haaretz reports.

France, Britain, Canada, Norway, Australia and New Zealand sanctioned the group, Ahavat Gilad, after determining that it was operating in outposts linked to violence against Palestinians. The UK said Ahavat Gilad was being used to funnel funds to illegal farming outposts throughout the West Bank, which have become hotbeds for settler violence and which critics say are used as a tool to dispossess Palestinians of their land.

It’s unclear whether the grant to Ahavat Gilad would expose the Israeli government itself to secondary sanctions from the six Western governments.

Despite Ahavat Gilad’s ties to outposts, the grant from the National Security Ministry, led by far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir, is specifically aimed at reducing incidents of violence in the West Bank and providing mentors to young settlers in those illegal communities, documents obtained by Haaretz say.

Funds for the grant were apparently made available as part of a government decision to combat rising settler violence, which treated the issue as a criminal matter led by juvenile delinquents, rather than a political one backed by entities seeking to expel Palestinians and annex the West Bank.

The cabinet resolution approved in May specifically tasked Ben Gvir’s ministry with establishing “a mentor system to prevent dangerous behavior among youth.”

Ahavat Gilad “was chosen in light of its proven, unique and extensive experience in connecting with the field, including measurable and significant results in leading youth to positive action, preventing violence, promoting military conscription and more,” Ben Gvir’s office tells Haaretz.

The ministry says it is committed “solely to the good of the State of Israel and the citizens of Israel, and therefore does not accept diktats from international bodies with anti-Israeli agendas and foreign considerations.”

Critics argue that the government tacitly backs the violent settlers, as they are advancing its aims of expanding Israel’s grip on the West Bank. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says he aims to encourage Palestinian migration from the territory and has called for the abolition of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. Settler attacks over the past three years have led several thousand Palestinians to flee their homes.