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The Palestinian human rights organization designated by Israel as a “terrorist organization” calls for international support to reverse the situation Decide, This may damage their ability to engage in humanitarian work.
Military order signed by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Friday Effectively banned six organizations, Putting them at risk of imminent retaliation. They are accused of ties to the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the armed forces of which carried out deadly attacks on Israelis.
Al-Haq, an organization that has documented human rights violations since 1979, has denied these allegations and called for “international solidarity.”
“It is no coincidence that Israel’s recent escalation of punitive measures against Al-Haq and other civil society organizations after the International Criminal Court launched an investigation into Israel’s crimes in the Palestinian situation,” the organization said in a statement. A statement.
Former International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda determined in March that there is sufficient preliminary evidence to prove survey Possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories. Israel has stated that it will not cooperate with the investigation.
Huck said: “These baseless allegations show that the attacks on the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom, justice and self-determination have escalated shockingly and unjustly.”
Addameer, an organization focused on the rights of prisoners, was also blacklisted and was one of the initiators of the petition calling on the UN Supreme Court to initiate an investigation.
In a tweet, it said the military order sought to “criminalize” the work of civil society organizations that “challenge Israel’s long-term military occupation.”
The organization called on the international community to take action to pressure Israel to withdraw its identification of civil society organizations and “stop the use of illegal practices and policies of intimidation and harassment.”
It also argues that this designation represents the “evil and illegal” application of Israeli domestic law to the occupied Palestinian territory and violates the internationally recognized right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
These designations represent an unprecedented and ominous attempt by the Israeli occupation authorities to suppress and criminalize Palestinian civil society organizations that challenge Israel’s long-term military occupation, entrenched settler colonization, and Palestinian apartheid. https://t.co/1qLzqo18lQ pic.twitter.com/ZZaKswnxha
-Addameer-Pronoun (@Addameer) October 22, 2021
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International warned that this designation gives Israeli security forces the power to close the offices of these organizations, confiscate their assets, and arrest and imprison their staff. It is also prohibited to fund or even publicly express support for their activities.
Addameer called on “donors, supporters, and human rights actors around the world to condemn responsibility and intimidation strategies, and publicly reiterate their support for Palestinian civil society organizations”.
The other four groups targeted by Israel include Child Protection International-Palestine, the Bisan Research and Development Center, the Coalition of Palestinian Women’s Committees, and the Coalition of Agricultural Work Committees.
‘Upgrade the suppression strategy’
Khaled Quzmar, director-general of the International Palestinian Children’s Defense, said that local human rights organizations have been operating in a hostile environment, and “false propaganda campaigns” are becoming more common.
Kuzmar said in a statement: “After years of illegalization and false propaganda against us have failed to silence our work, the Israeli authorities are now choosing to escalate their repressive strategy by marking civil society organizations as terrorists.”
“We ask the international community to use all available means to hold the Israeli authorities accountable… and take action to end their complicity and support for the apartheid regime in Israel,” he said.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense did not comment on its decision and did not publish any evidence to support its allegations.
The United Nations Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said on Saturday that the reasons cited by the Israeli Defense Minister were “vague or irrelevant” and condemned his decision as the latest step in a “long-term stigmatization campaign” against these organizations.
“Anti-democratic” decision
The label of terrorism that Israel has put on these six groups seems to have caught the United States and Europe off guard.
This may force them to choose one side when their efforts to negotiate a Palestinian state clause with Israel are hopelessly stuck.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said his office had not received advance warning about the designation.
Price said at a telephone briefing with reporters in Washington on Friday: “We will contact our Israeli partners to obtain more information on the basis for the designation.”
“We believe that respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and a strong civil society are essential to responsible and responsive governance,” he said.
Some Democrats in the U.S. Congress opposed Israel’s decision on Saturday. Representative Betty McCollum pointed out that his actions were “anti-democratic and violated the values of American allies.”
Representative Ilhan Omar called Israel’s actions “a textbook way to evade accountability for human rights violations and an insult to all those who care about peace”.
The American Jewish organization “Now Americans for Peace”, which called for a solution to the decades-long conflict, called the move “deeply disturbing.”
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