The Spanish government annually transfers, directly and indirectly, millions of euros to organizations promoting anti-Israel activity, this according to a report published by the research institute NGO Monitor, in cooperation with ACOM, which shows how much Spanish money goes to organizations that incite hatred and glorify acts of violence and terrorism against Israel.
According to the report, despite the clear statements made by Spanish leaders against terrorism and the boycott of Israel, Spanish public funding is nowadays being transferred from various sources to boycott-sponsoring organizations that carry out political campaigns against Israel, some of which even have links to terrorist organizations. In 2015 alone, 5.1 million euros were funneled in this way by various authorities operating within the Spanish government.
A large part of the money was not transferred directly by the government, but through various agencies and associations. The report reveals that four out of six organizations that received direct funding from the Spanish government have alleged links with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization, which is responsible for dozens of terrorist attacks against Jews and Israelis.
For example, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which received about 180 hundred thousand euros from the Spanish government, describes Israel’s policy as “apartheid” and accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing”, of committing “war crimes” and of “Judaizing Jerusalem.” The organization’s director and founder, Raji Sourani, has served three years in prison for his membership in the PFLP.
Two other organizations, which together received 270,000 euros from Spain, are officially affiliated with the Popular Front, including many members of the terrorist organization. Mohammed Bakri, the director of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in Gaza, who received 185,000 euros from Spain, participated a few years ago in the jubilee celebrations of the assassination of Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze’evi, who was murdered in 2001 by PFLP affiliated terrorists.
In addition to the regular grants that Spain transfers each year, there is also a wide range of Spanish organizations involved in a variety of anti-Israeli campaigns which also receive government funding. For example, Paz con Dignidad, which receives an annual government budget amounting 600,000 euros, regularly supports the BDS movement and organizes a large number of projects in cooperation with Palestinian organizations.
Mundubat, which annually receives about 3 million euros from various government agencies in Spain, also promotes international campaigns calling for the boycott of Israel and has published several documents accusing Israel of “war crimes.” Every year the EACP (two million euros) awards the Yasser Arafat Prize, one of whose winners has accused Israel of “stealing water from the Palestinians using advanced technology.”
Aside from political warfare against Israel, these organizations often also promote arguments that reek of anti-Semitism or even encourage violence against civilians. One activist of such an organization, for example, who had claimed that Balfour had asked wealthy Jews to settle in Palestine, paving, according to him, the way for genocide, also, using his mandate as member of the city council, called for “reconsidering” the city’s support of the Spanish Jewish Music Festival.
Other organizations that enjoy Spanish funding legitimize violent Palestinian “resistance” and systematically deny or ignore the context of indiscriminate terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. For example, Novact argues that “since the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Israeli government has used the pretext of its security to justify the occupation of the Palestinian people, committing horrific atrocities and mass human rights violation” while stating that “the right of the Palestinian people to resist the Israeli military occupation is not only a moral right, but a recognized right under international law.
