From 2016 to 2020, the United Nations has funneled at least $40 million to radical Palestinian NGOs that have ties to terrorist organizations and promote BDS, a new report by Im Tirtzu revealed on Tuesday.
The report surveyed 19 Palestinian NGOs that receive funding from the UN, and nearly all of them support BDS. Eight have ties to Hamas or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror groups.
Some of the terror-linked NGOs named in the report include the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Union of Health Work Committees, which have been identified by USAID as the agricultural and health arms of the PFLP; and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights that has ties to Hamas and PFLP according to Israel’s Ministry for Strategic Affairs.
“As with most rabidly anti-Israel NGOs, their names are innocuous to mislead people into thinking they promote human rights, but in reality, they peddle malicious anti-Israel agendas,” said Eytan Meir, director of external relations and development for Im Tirtzu.
The report further notes that the UN is not entirely transparent in its reporting, as it “often omits the ‘implementing partners’ that receive the funding to carry out the programs. This creates a situation in which millions of dollars in funding are unaccounted for.”
The report also highlights the United States’ disproportionate role in UN funding, noting that the US funds 22% of the UN’s core budget and 25% of its peacekeeping budget.
“Support for terrorism and BDS is directly opposed to the values and wishes of the United States,” the report states. “In July 2019, the US House of Representatives passed an anti-BDS resolution by an overwhelming majority and to date more than 30 states have passed anti-BDS legislation.”
As a solution, Im Tirtzu advocates increased transparency and the passing of a UN equivalent of the Taylor Force Act.
The Taylor Force Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in March 2018, requires the US to halt its aid to the Palestinian Authority so long as it continues paying stipends to individuals or families of individuals who committed acts of terror.
“A similar law can be implemented in regards to the UN,” Im Tirtzu states, suggeting that such a law “would stipulate that the US would halt its aid to the UN so long as it continues to fund propaganda organizations that have ties to terrorist groups, promote BDS, and lobby international bodies against Israel. Such a law would require the UN to cut its funding of these organizations out of fear of losing funding from the US, its largest donor.”