Israel Matzav

Oxfam accused of supporting 'Palestinian' terror organization

The letter alleges that Oxfam “provides financial aid and additional forms of material support to the Union of Health Workers Committees (UHWC) and the Union of Agricultural Workers Committees (UAWC), instrumentalities of the terrorist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority.”

The PFLP has been associated with major terrorist attacks dating back to the 1972 Lod Airport massacre, the assassination of then-tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001, and – according to a report obtained by The Jerusalem Post from an expert on terrorism – rocket attacks during former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s funeral and other recent attacks.

The letter notes that “Oxfam readily acknowledges it works very closely with these two Palestinian groups” – which it says were created and are subsidized by the PFLP – and “provides them financial support.”

“Your organization has described them as your ‘partners’ in the numerous press communications and reports you have published. Indeed, last month you signed a new agreement with the UHWC to provide it further financial support,” said Shurat Hadin.

Oxfam’s office in England said it had not yet received the letter, but referred the Post to a statement by Australia’s Foreign Ministry in May 2012 which rejected what appeared to be similar allegations by Shurat Hadin regarding the UAWC. The statement said that the UAWC was registered in Israel and not declared illegal in Israel.

The Australian statement also said that no offense was identified and named several European countries and Japan as supporting the UAWC.

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The letter notes that the EU has designated the PFLP as a terrorist organization and that, “Article 3 of the EU Common Position prohibits the making available of, directly or indirectly, funds, financial assets or economic resources or other related services to or for the benefit of the listed terrorist entities.”

Turning to US law, the letter says that the PFLP is officially designated a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” pursuant to section 219 of the US Immigration and Nationality Act and other legal provisions.

According to Shurat Hadin, under a 2010 US Supreme Court case, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, “any assistance or support to designated terrorist groups, include putatively benign forms of assistance (such as agricultural aid) is criminal.”

Labels: European Union, Oxfam, Palestinian terrorism, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Shurat HaDin, United States

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:46 AM