EU funding to NGOs: €30m. to antisemitism, terror-tied groups – report
Posted on 23 October 2020
In 2019, the EU allocated total of €30.1 million split into 32 grants for projects listed under “Palestine,” and an additional 9 grants totalling €3.3 million for projects listed under “Israel.”
By SARAH CHEMLA
OCTOBER 23, 2020
NGO Monitor released a report on European Union NGO funding in 2019 in which the organization analyzed the European Commission updated details about grants allocated to NGOs in 2019 by the European Union.
According to the new report by NGO Monitor, the EU allowed in 2019 a total of €30.1 million split into 32 grants were issued for projects listed under “Palestine,” and an additional 9 grants totaling €3.3 million for projects listed under “Israel,” involving Israeli NGOs and human rights.
NGO Monitor pointed out that the intended beneficiaries of EU funding to Israeli NGOs for human rights projects are mainly Palestinians – 5 of 9 grants, totaling €1.87 million – and not – with a few exceptions – to address human rights issues affecting Israeli citizens.
Moreover, according to the report, the overwhelming majority of funding to organizations claiming to promote human rights – 6 of 9 grants, totaling €2.47 million – are for political initiatives related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This indicates, as claimed by NGO Monitor, that “the EU views its engagement with human rights in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza strictly through the filter of the conflict, not an objective appraisal of a diverse range of human rights challenges.
“Research by NGO Monitor found that over the last nine years the EU has handed €25 million to Palestinian groups which have refused to disavow terror.
Yet, ANNEX II of the general conditions attached to EU grants includes an anti-terror clause in the funding contract, Article 1, 1.5bis, which states: “Grant beneficiaries and contractors must ensure that there is no detection of subcontractors, natural persons, including participants to workshops and/or trainings and recipients of financial support to third parties, in the lists of EU restrictive measures.”
Read in full: EU funding to NGOs: €30m. to antisemitism, terror-tied groups – report