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Lennox Kalifungwa

Palestinian Terror Group Runs Student Exchange Program With Europe

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - MAY 23: Students of Birzeit University, supporting Hamas, Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), gather for a debate held prior to the Student Council Elections, in Ramallah, West Bank on May 23, 2023. (Photo by Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A designated terrorist organization is running an international student exchange program for Palestinian students in cooperation with France and the United Kingdom, according to an Israeli NGO.

The exchange program, run by the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, claims to “strengthen young people in relation to agricultural and environmental activities.” Scheduled for July, it includes visits to Marseille, Berlin and Hebron.

According to the admission criteria, priority will be given to residents of Area C, an administrative zone in Judea and Samaria controlled by Israel.

After discovering the program, Israeli NGO Regavim wrote a letter to the Israeli Defense Ministry and Israel Defense Forces last week demanding that immediate steps be taken.

“Israel must act immediately to block the UAWC’s ability to operate on the local and international stage to spread its terrorist agenda, and to cut off the UAWC’s ability to maintain international contacts that funnel European money to the PFLP,” the letter states.

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK – MAY 23: Students of Birzeit University, supporting Hamas, Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), gather for a debate held prior to the Student Council Elections, in Ramallah, West Bank on May 23, 2023. (Photo by Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

“The Israeli government’s failure to act against the activities of this terrorist organization constitutes abandonment of territory under Israeli jurisdiction,” he said, expressing surprise that the UAWC continues to operate “openly among Palestinian students and in cooperation with foreign countries.”

Knesset member Sharren Haskel (National Unity Party) also submitted a request to the defense minister for an explanation of why a terrorist organization is being allowed to operate freely, according to Regavim. 

Israelis walk past a campaign poster of National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz in the southern city of Beersheva, on October 25, 2022 ahead of Israel’s November 1 election. (Photo by HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)

The Defense Ministry designated the UAWC a terrorist group in 2021, along with five other organizations.

The UAWC is tied to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), designated by the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. UAWC’s administrative manager was charged with aiding in the murder of Rina Shnerb, 17, in the summer of 2019.

23 August 2019, Israel, Lod: Relatives and family members mourn during funeral of 17-years old Rina Shnerb. Shnerb was killed and her 46-year-old father and 19-year-old brother were seriously injured in an attack with an explosive device in the West Bank. (Photo by Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images)

In October 2022, Israel’s designation of the UAWC as a terrorist group was rejected by nine European countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

However, the Netherlands ended its donations to the UAWC in January 2022, following an external investigation into the NGO’s links with the PFLP. Some 21.5 million euros ($24.3 million) had been donated to the UAWC before the Netherlands put funding on hold in August 2020 pending the outcome of the investigation.

Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate

(Additional reporting provided by JNS Reporter)

Edited by A.J. Cooke and Sterling Creighton Beard

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