European Union flags in front of the European Commission building in Brussels. Photo: Amio Cajander via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – European governments are sending money to Palestinian NGOs to help them file lawsuits against Israel in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, according to the watchdog group NGO Monitor.

New research from NGO Monitor reveals that from 2018 to 2020, the Swiss government gave $700,000 to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR).

Israel Hayom has learned that the governments, which include Denmark, Ireland and Sweden, are knowingly and intentionally funding ICC petitions against Israel, especially those submitted by the PCHR. The PCHR states openly that its goal is to “inundate the [Israeli] occupation with hundreds and thousands of legal suits that will incriminate and convict it.”

Another example is the organization Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, which also used European governmental funding—from the Netherlands, in this case—to petition the ICC. NGO Monitor underscores that in many other cases, Palestinian NGOs receive funding for unspecified “legal activity,” which they then use to sue Israel.

Anne Herzberg, NGO Monitor’s legal adviser, said donor nations must take responsibility for “failures” that prevent Israel from protecting its citizens against Palestinian terrorism.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.