Mr Barghouti added that: “The scale of what has happened is really amazing and surprising.”
7amleh, an NGO with the purpose of empowering digital advocacy among Palestinian society, was granted €189,000 in EU funds in 2022.
On Oct 9 one of the group’s advocacy managers, Catherine Abuamsha, retweeted a statement saying “nothing about the Palestinian resistance is unprovoked”. The statement went on to describe Israel as a “colonial-apartheid regime” involved in “ethnic cleansing”.
Neveen Abu Rahmoun, a board member of the group, also posted on Facebook on the day of the massacre about “the Palestinian Resistance”.
Olfa Deutsch, from the Israel-based organisation NGO Monitor, said: “There should be clear red lines.
“Aid is a welcome thing but none of it should go towards organisations that have anything to do with anti-Semitism or condone terrorism.”
“The massacre last week did not happen in a vacuum.”
She added: “We have notified the EU multiple times with our concerns about the language and affiliations of some NGOs receiving their aid.”
The issue of aid for Palestine appeared to expose cracks among the Brussels elite in the immediate aftermath of the attack.
Oliver Varhelyi, the European commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, announced two days after the atrocity that all payments from the EU’s development programme for Palestinians would be suspended and put under review.
Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, subsequently said that while “humanitarian support to the Palestinian people is not in question”, it would be reviewed to ensure none went to Hamas or any terrorist entity.
The issue appeared to expose cracks among the Brussels elite, with Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, stating that the funds would “not be cancelled”.
The European Commission has been approached for comment.
