COPENHEGEN: Denmark will limit the number of Palestinian NGOs that it supports and increase oversight of the ones that it does fund following an investigation. Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen announced on Friday that his ministry would halt funding to some 14 Palestinian organizations that have ties to terror groups. Starting in 2018, aid will be provided to 10 Palestinian NGOs instead of the current 24.
The Danish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it will “continue to support civil society organizations focusing on the human rights situation in Palestine, which is a priority under the Danish foreign policy.” However, “the funds will be transferred under new and stricter conditions.” Under the stricter conditions the NGOs cannot have ties to terror groups or use the money to promote the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, or BDS movement against Israel.
The Danish investigation started in May came after the opening of a women’s center in the West Bank village of Buraq named for Dalal Mughrabi, who led the 1978 massacre on a highway near Tel Aviv that killed 37 civilians, many of them children, and injured dozens. The town refused to change the name saying it was chosen by the villagers “to commemorate a Palestinian hero who sacrificed herself for her country and therefore they have no intention to change its name regardless of the price.” The center was built by the Palestinian Women’s Affairs Technical Committee, which received aid money from Denmark through the Ramallah-based Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat, a donor program sponsored by Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.
The Danish investigation was opened at the urging of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan.
Following Friday’s announcement, Erdan praised the Danish Foreign Ministry’s decision, calling it “a significant achievement for Israel in its resolute struggle against the boycott organizations, which suffered a severe blow today.”
