On July 1, the European Union stated it would release a grant to Al-Haq, a Palestinian NGO with long-standing links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Even though the PFLP is designated a terrorist organization by the EU, the United States and Israel, Brussels’ decision barely made a ripple in the news cycle.
The announcement came just weeks after the European Commission decided to renew funding to the terror-supporting Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank.
As an HonestReporting analysis of leading European news outlets makes clear, rather than calling for transparency in the use of public funds, journalists are promoting a narrative that perpetuates misleading claims made by the authoritarian rulers in Ramallah.
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Background: European Aid Delayed Over ‘Antisemitic and Violent’ Palestinian Textbooks
As outlined in our April 12 article, the EU’s funding for the Palestinian Authority was held up for months while representatives from multiple European countries pushed to condition financial support on the PA making changes to the “problematic and hateful” books used in Palestinian schools. Part of the European aid goes towards the salaries of civil servants who create and teach the controversial curriculum.
Following the publication of a 194-page study by the independent Georg Eckert Institute one year ago, which concluded that PA textbooks contain “antisemitic narratives and glorification of violence,” the European Commission (EC) assured members of the European Parliament that urgent discussions were taking place between EU representatives and the PA Ministry of Education. This, to ensure that the Palestinian leadership would act to remove “questionable content” from books to be produced in 2021.
Olivér Várhelyi, the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, reportedly demanded “clear process indicators” as to the PA’s commitment to ending incitement, which then triggered a drawn-out “consultative process” in Brussels, delaying the approval of the entire aid package. PA Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Malki subsequently called Várhelyi’s request “unacceptable” to Palestinians, since “…placing conditions on the funding embarrasses them internationally.”
The conditionality of our financial assistance in the educational sector needs to be duly considered.
— Oliver Varhelyi (@OliverVarhelyi) June 21, 2021
Meanwhile, a report analyzing PA textbooks for the 2021-22 semester published in January this year by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) — a non-profit watchdog group that monitors educational resources for extremist materials — found that, in spite of Ramallah’s promises about curriculum reform and the ostensible implementation of “monitoring processes,” the original problems identified still persist.
Amongst other issues, IMPACT-se discovered that study materials present Jews as “devious, treacherous and hostile” people who control “global events through financial power.” Furthermore, students are taught that one of the “rules of jihad” is to die as a martyr while killing infidels, and that they should sacrifice themselves for their homeland and “redeem it with blood.”
Brussels Approves ‘Unconditional’ Support Package, Critical Journalists MIA
Despite the lack of progress, on June 13 the EC voted to authorize aid worth €224.8 million ($231.4 million). “I am very glad to announce that the EU funds for 2021 can be disbursed rapidly,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a press conference in Ramallah, adding: “All the difficulties are gone.” The EU’s “Direct Financial Support to Recurrent Expenditures of the Palestinian Authority 2021” includes some €55 million ($56.6 million) for salaries and pensions of PA civil servants — including those who write textbooks.
On Facebook, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh thanked Von der Leyen for the EC’s decision to resume “unconditional assistance.” This is the same Palestinian leader who has gone on record saying that he would not allow “any concessions about the educational curriculum,” calling the textbooks “part of the dignity of the Palestinian.” Responding to questions from The Jerusalem Post, an EU official on June 14 also confirmed that the 27-country bloc does not “impose reforms on our partners.”
However, Brussels’ pandering to Palestinian demands did not generate headlines in any of the major European publications, even as members of the European Parliament tabled questions to the Commission.
Instead, journalists uncritically parroted Ramallah’s framing of the issue.
🆕Written question to the @EU_Commission, following the announcement that the EU funding to the PA will be resumed unconditionally and rapidly.
⁉️Can the Commission ensure that the PA's school material no longer contains hateful and antisemitic material?#No2Antisemitism pic.twitter.com/0Bh6y4R57c— David Lega (@DavidLega) June 30, 2022
Related Reading: Teaching Hatred: Media Blind to PA Incitement as Terror Suspect, 14, Found With ‘Violent’ School Textbooks
Euronews, a Europe-wide news organization working in 15 languages, on June 14 published a piece titled, “Brussels to ‘rapidly’ release delayed EU funds for Palestinian schools and hospitals.” The article noted: “Even if the disagreement honed in on the specific issue of textbooks, it obstructed the release of the whole package of financial aid, including healthcare funds.”
Euronews added: “The Norwegian Refugee Council sharply critici[z]ed the delay, saying the suspension is ‘crippling’ critical services with ‘dire consequences’ for patients in need of treatment.” For its part, EUobserver cited the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Jan Egeland as asserting that Palestinian children are “starving because families cannot afford food” due to the funding delay.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, described by some as Germany’s equivalent to The New York Times, on June 15 likewise asserted that Commissioner Várhelyi’s stance had “dramatic humanitarian consequences,” while noting that the Palestinian Authority has denied the allegations regarding its textbooks.
Leading French newspaper Le Monde went a step further, claiming that only Israel and “Israeli pressure groups” have “accused” the PA of inciting hatred. According to the prominent daily, “120,000 poor families did not receive their quarterly allowance, Palestinian civil servants saw their salaries cut by 20% and hospitals in East Jerusalem slowed down, forced to turn away some cancer patients for lack of funds.”
Related Video: Unreported: PA Prioritizes Life of Palestinian Terrorist Over Palestinian Child
Unreported: The Palestinian Authority’s $270.75 Million ‘Martyr’s Fund’
Indeed, the articles simply echoed claims by PA Prime Minister Shtayyeh, who in March said that the holdup had a “negative impact on the ability of his government to meet its obligations towards the underprivileged families that receive social benefits, as well as on the salaries of the public employees and the work of the various institutions.”
As such, Euronews, The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Le Monde failed in their journalistic duty to provide readers with the unvarnished facts. Specifically, it is the Palestinian Authority that is largely to blame for the “dire consequences” facing its subjects.
Just weeks ago, PA President Mahmoud Abbas vowed to maintain the so-called “Pay-for-Slay” policy, a scheme that provides salaries to those who commit violence against Jews and Israelis, as well as their relatives. And there’s a built-in incentive plan: more money is doled out to the terrorists who cause the most bloodshed.
As exposed by Palestinian Media Watch, in 2021 alone, Ramallah distributed 841 million shekels ($240.75 million) through its “Martyrs’ Fund.” The NGO calculated that the PA spends 33.34 times more per capita paying terror rewards than it spends on health services for the Palestinian population.
Yet the media did not even broach the point that the delayed EU funding for hospitals in eastern Jerusalem amounts to €13 million ($13.2 million) and that — if the PA were to stop rewarding terrorism — it could match Brussels’ donation almost twenty times over, ensuring the continuation of cancer treatment for years to come.
Alternatively, Abbas and Shtayyeh could support “the underprivileged families that receive social benefits” for five years.
Related Reading: WaPo, AP, Reuters Omit Critical Context About PA’s Pay-for-Slay, Turn Facts About Policy Into Israeli ‘Claims’
The botched reporting seemingly fits a pattern. News outlets also failed to speak truth to power in their reporting on the resumption of aid to Al-Haq on July 1, with Politico Europe blatantly omitting readily available evidence of the organization’s ties to terrorists.
So, which European outlet will be the first to scrutinize the channeling of taxpayers’ euros to organizations that incentivize, or have links to, terrorism?
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Featured Image: Abbas Momani/AFP via Getty Images
