From the Danish Ambassador to Israel's TWITTER account: "Denmark's For. Min breaks off coop with Pal NGO WATC (glorific of terrorist). Demands money back."
JERUSALEM POST
DENMARK FREEZES $8M. IN
PALESTINIAN NGO FUNDING
BY TOVAH LAZAROFF JUNE 4,
2017 23:51
Denmark halts payment to
pro-Palestinian NGOs pending an investigation to ensure the funds will be used
for peaceful purposes.
Jesper Vahr, Denmark's Ambassador to Israel |
Denmark has frozen $8 million
in donor funding it had earmarked for 24 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian NGOs,
pending an investigation to ensure that the funds will be used for peaceful and
constructive purposes.
The country’s Foreign Ministry
on Friday issued a statement about the suspension of funding, which is
organized through the umbrella organization of the Al-Bireh-based Human Rights
and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat.
Sweden, Switzerland and the
Netherlands area also part of the donor consortium.
The ministry also halted
funding to the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee, a Palestinian NGO, after
learning it named a youth center after Palestinian Dalal Mughrabi. Mughrabi was
one of 11 terrorists who hijacked a taxi and two buses near Tel Aviv in 1978,
killing 38 people, in what is known as the Coastal Plain Massacre.
The ministry has asked the
WATC to return the $500,000 it has already received from Denmark.
On Friday, Denmark’s
Ambassador to Israel Jesper Vahr tweeted that his country “demands money back.”
In a statement on its
webpage, the Danish Foreign Ministry explained that Danish funds had not gone
to support the center, but had been given to other WATC projects.
Before leaving for Liberia
late Saturday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Denmark for
taking a stand against the WATC.
He said he spoke at length
with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen over the phone about the issue
and that Vahr had then called to notify him of the decision to pull the fund.
Netanyahu also spoke about the problem of Palestinian support for terrorism
with Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen during his visit to Israel and
the Palestinian territories in May.
Netanyahu said that both
Norway and the UN had pulled their funds from the WATC as well.
“Some time ago I contacted
the Norwegian government and told it to stop funding a Palestinian body that
glorifies Palestinian terrorists and it has done so. I appreciate this,”
Netanyahu said. “The UN has done so as well.”
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