By: Robert Schmad, Daily Caller News Foundation
The Soros family’s Open Society Foundations in 2023 gave $250,000 to the European wing of Al-Haq Human Rights Organization, an Israeli-designated terrorist group, according to a grant database.
Israel’s government determined that Al-Haq was an “arm” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, in 2021. In addition to the Israeli government’s designation, Al-Haq’s general director, Shawan Jabarin, was convicted in 1985 of recruiting and arranging trainings for the PFLP and several of the organization’s members have made comments supporting militant extremist groups like Hamas.
Last year wasn’t the first time the Soros family’s philanthropic network has given money to Al-Haq. Open Society Foundations donated over $2 million to the organization between 2016 and 2020. The most recent donation, however, represents the first time the Soros network has disclosed a new donation to Al-Haq since the Israeli government designated it as a terror organization.
Open Society Foundations’ grant to Al-Haq will “support work on human rights, legal research and advocacy in Europe,” according to a grant database.
“For years, Al-Haq, a Palestinian NGO linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — an internationally designated terrorist organization — has pursued a strategy seeking to eliminate Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people and to legitimize violent attacks against its citizens,” an unreleased report authored by Israeli watchdog NGO Monitor and obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation reads. “A central aspect of Al-Haq’s activity is arguing to Western elites — parliamentarians, government officials, diplomats, academics, journalists and students — that Israel is inherently illegitimate.”
Al-Haq has “operated on [the PFLP’s] behalf and upon its instructions as part of the terror organization’s struggle against Israel,” according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The PFLP has launched rockets at civilians, hijacked planes and ordered suicide bombings, according to the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Jabarin, the head of Al-Haq, attended a memorial event for a PFLP leader in 2019, according to a Palestinian media report.
Aseel Al Bajeh, a legal researcher and advocacy officer at Al-Haq, reposted a quote from Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas political leader, the day Hamas carried out mass terror attacks across Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people while also engaging in mass rapes and kidnappings. Ahmed Abofoul, another legal researcher and advocacy officer at Al-Haq, said on X that the United Nations secretary-general’s call for Hamas to stop killing civilians and release hostages was “morally abhorrent” because “Palestinian resistance” is “permitted by international law.”
Abofoul has defended the PFLP on X, according to the Washington Examiner. Al-Haq head of training Ziad Hmaidan encouraged Palestinians to attack Israel and praised “jihad” just days after the Oct. 7 attacks.
Al-Haq denies any links to the PFLP. Open Society Foundations condemned Israel’s designation of Al-Haq a terror group in 2022, saying that it “remains fully committed to its support for Al-Haq.”
Open Society Foundations was previously led by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, but his son took over the organization in 2023. Alex Soros described himself as “more political” than his father in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
“There is strict U.S. anti-terrorist legislation that determines which organizations a foundation like OSF can fund,” an Open Society Foundations spokesperson told the DCNF. “We devote a lot of effort to ensuring full compliance. None of our partners have ever been designated under U.S. law as supporting terrorism.”
Al-Haq did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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