Israel Shuts Down Palestinian Human Rights NGO's

[The story of Israel declaring human rights NGO’s to be ‘terrorist’ organizations deserves attention. On the one hand, Israel maintains a decade long occupation enforced through violent means. On the other, nonviolent efforts to oppose the occupation are also suppressed and criminalized. It’s almost as if Israel just wants to continue its domination of the Palestinian people regardless of how they struggle to end it. — Progressive Hub]

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz on Friday declared six Palestinian civil society groups as terrorist organisations, accusing them of militant links in a move condemned by various human rights defenders.

The six include the prominent advocacy groups Addameer, which supports Palestinian political prisoners, and Al-Haq, a human rights organisation that works with the United Nations. Also listed are the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, the Bisan Centre for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and Defense for Children International – Palestine.

In a statement, Gantz’s office said they are “part of a network of organisations operating under cover in the international arena” on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist-Leninist resistance group.