The European Union funded illegal structures in Gush Etzion that were built by a convicted terrorist, Im Tirtzu revealed on Wednesday.
Rizq Salah, who in 1990 murdered IDF soldier Guy Friedman, was released from Israeli security prison in 2013 as part of a US-mediated initiative to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
In 2019, Ynet reported that Salah had been given permission by the military’s Civil Administration to cultivate land in Gush Etzion near the Jewish community of Netiv Ha’avot.
Now, the Im Tirtzu’s Arab Desk revealed, Salah erected on his land illegal structures that bear the logo of the European Union. The structures also bear the logos of Oxfam and the Rural Women’s Development Society, a Palestinian NGO.
According to Im Tirtzu, representatives from the Civil Administration acknowledged that the structures built by Salah were illegal and should be demolished.
Many in Israel have long decried the European Union’s funding of illegal Arab construction in Area C of Judea and Samaria as a path to establishing a de facto Palestinian state.
Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg blasted the EU and called on the Civil Administration to immediately demolish the illegal structures. “This is yet another instance in which the European Union is using the hard-earned taxes of its citizens to harm Israel’s security,” Peleg said.
“The EU must end its sick obsession with the Jewish state and stop funding anti-Israel projects and NGOs,” Peleg added. “Israel is not a punching bag for the EU to take out its anti-Semitic aggression. We call on the Civil Administration to immediately demolish these structures and put an end to the rampant illegal construction in Area C.”
