Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt

Norwegian NGO MIFF sends letter to FM Anniken Huitfeldt calling out funding of employees of NGOs who are simultaneously affiliated with a terrorist organization

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, January 12, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Norwegian NGO MIFF (With Israel for Peace) today wrote to Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt urging her " to immediately stop all payments to the UAWC". The UAWC (Union of Agricultural Worker's Committee) is a Palestinian NGO to which the Norwegian government has provided millions of euros of humanitarian aid for several years.

The letter follows on from a similar one sent yesterday by BFOI (Belgian Friends of Israel) to Belgian minister of Development Cooperation Meryame Kitir pressing her to stop aid to NGOs linked to the UAWC from the Belgian taxpayer.

The background to both letters is the decision by the Netherlands announced in writing to its parliament that the Dutch government was halting all aid to the UAWC.

"The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is a Marxist organization that is on the EU terror list. The Netherlands investigation confirms that two suspects in the 2019 PFL terror attack that killed Israeli Rina Schnerb were employed by the UAWC" states the letter to Huitfeldt. It continues "From 2007 to 2020, 28 PFLP members have been board members of the UAWC, and in 12 of the cases there have been overlapping periods where the individuals have held leadership positions in the UAWC and at the same time a position in the PFLP. "

The letter, co-signed by Lars J Nordgård (Chairman of the Board MIFF) and Conrad Myrland (General Manager MIFF) quotes the Dutch government's reason for stopping funding, namely "the UAWC is violating its own statutes stating that employees should not be politically active".

The authors go on to remind the Norwegian FM that "in 2018 Norwegian People's Aid had to pay NOK 16 million for supporting terrorist groups after receiving funds from USAID.".

"MIFF therefore urges the Foreign Minister to immediately stop all payments to the UAWC as to whether it is through Norwegian People's Aid or others" the letter concludes, adding "our 11,000 members do not want to see our tax money go into the pockets of employees of NGOs who are simultaneously affiliated with a terrorist organization".

MIFF states on its website that it is Europe's largest non-religious pro-Israel membership organisation.

Célia De Costa
BFOI
+49 4930 38678
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