In October, Israel designated Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International–Palestine, Union of Agricultural Work Committees and Union of Palestinian Women Committees as terrorist groups. Israel claimed the organizations were front groups for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a left-wing political party with a paramilitary wing. Earlier this year, Israel passed information about the designation to the U.S., but a CIA intelligence review of the material found no evidence to support the claim, according to two sources familiar with the study. The CIA report “doesn’t say the groups are guilty of anything,” one source said. The assessment was highly classified, a second source said. Many states, including Israel’s allies, have rejected the terrorism designation as unfounded. The United States has not publicly criticized or disputed it, but neither has it placed the groups under the US terrorism designation. In light of the CIA assessment, “the United States should clearly call on the Israeli government to reverse these designations and allow these organizations to continue their vital work,” said Omar Shakir, Israel/Palestine director of Human Rights Watch. “The reality here is that the United States has for too long turned a blind eye to, and in some cases even green-lighted, very serious abuses by the Israeli government,” Shakir added. “The stance against Palestinian human rights organizations underscores a far greater failure in US administration policy on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and puts the United States completely out of touch with consensus in the human rights movement.” Since the announcement of the designation, Israel has continued its efforts to stop the six NGOs from continuing advocacy work. On Thursday, the Israeli military raided the West Bank offices of all six groups, confiscated property, sealed the office doors and posted official notices declaring the groups illegal. After the raids, State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed that the US government had analyzed Israel’s evidence of the terrorism charge. “What happened last year is that the Israeli government designated these organizations,” he said. “We have not followed any designation, nor have we changed our approach to these organizations.” Price declined to comment on the CIA report and referred the Guardian to the CIA. The CIA did not respond to questions from the Guardian. The classified assessment mirrors the findings of European governments who were also shown dossiers of Israeli evidence. Last month, nine European Union member states said in a joint statement: “No substantial information has been received from Israel that would justify a review of our policy towards the six Palestinian NGOs.” The designation, according to political analysts, was partly intended to dry up European funding streams to Palestinian NGOs, but the tactic proved unsuccessful. According to Lara Friedman, the president of the Middle East Peace Foundation, the public attitude of the US government is mixed. “Many of us would like to see an affirmative rebuttal of the characterizations,” he said. “They haven’t done that, but there’s been nothing done by this government to suggest that they consider these organizations to be terrorist organizations.” However, he added: “The US administration had ten months to convince Israel” to reverse the designations. “On the contrary, this is now Israeli law.” A handful of US lawmakers publicly criticized Israel’s terrorism designation. Last month, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and 21 other Democrats sent a letter to Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, and Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, calling on the US government to stand up to the Israeli government. The lawmakers wrote: “A reported lack of evidence to support this decision raises concerns that it may be a deeply repressive measure designed to criminalize and silence prominent and key Palestinian human rights organizations.” According to a federal government source, Blinken has avoided the subject of the names since Israel announced them. “The secretary himself basically said: this is not something we want to touch too much.” The source added: “Most letters written to the secretary do not reach his desk verbatim, in full.” Beyond lawmakers’ public effort to address the issue, there have been private challenges to the Israeli designation. Last year, an Israeli delegation provided a similar dossier and briefing to members of Congress. This dossier, seen by the Guardian, repeats claims that the groups are “front institutions” for the (PFLP). But during the briefing, there was frustration over the quality of the dossier’s evidence, a congressional source said. Among the skeptics was Florida Republican Congressman Ted Deutsch, who has described himself as a “passionate supporter of Israel.” After receiving the dossier, the source said, Deutch told the Israeli delegation her evidence was insufficient. Deutch’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
