Portugal should demand the immediate revocation of the illegalization of Palestinian human rights organizations

MPPM – Portuguese Movement for the Rights of Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East vehemently repudiates the illegalization by the Israeli government of Palestinian human rights organizations based in the occupied West Bank and demands that the government of Portugal firmly condemn that decision and demand its revocation.

1. Last week, Israel's Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, designated six Palestinian civil society associations as "terrorist organizations": Addameer - Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq - Defending Human Rights, DCI-P - Defense of Children International - Palestine, Bisan Center for Research and Development, UAWC - Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and UPWC - Union of Palestinian Women Committees.

2. The designation, made pursuant to the so-called 2016 Anti-Terrorism Law, in practice outlaws the activities of these civil society groups, in that it allows Israeli authorities to close their offices, confiscate their property and arrest their staff, and prohibits funding or even public expression of support for their activities.

3. The targeted organisations have tirelessly denounced Israel's violations of the human, civil and economic rights of Palestinians and supported its victims, and have earned the recognition of their international partners, namely Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which reacted promptly to the measure with the publication of a joint statement condemning the “appalling and unjust decision [which] is an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement".

4. Confirmation of the work of these organisations and condemnation of their illegalisation has been made by numerous entities, notably by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michele Bachelet, who stated: "The organizations concerned are some of the most reputable human rights and humanitarian groups in the occupied Palestinian territory and for decades have worked closely with the UN.. [...] Claiming rights before a UN or other international body is not an act of terrorism, advocating for the rights of women in the occupied Palestinian territory is not terrorism, and providing legal aid to detained Palestinians is not terrorism".

5. The support of international bodies for the Palestinian organisations targeted contrasts with the ominous silence of the Western chancelleries, which have so far taken no position, despite their repeatedly proclaimed uncompromising defence of human rights.

6. This initiative by the Israeli government cannot be dissociated from the vast and well-orchestrated campaign to erase its crimes, which includes the silencing of civil society organisations, not only in occupied Palestine but in the State of Israel itself, and the imprisonment of activists and political leaders, and which extends abroad, with the shameful complicity of Western governments, many of which do not hesitate to bring their citizens to justice for the sole "crime" of showing active solidarity with the Palestinian people.

7. There are well-founded reasons to fear that severe limitations on the expression of international solidarity with the Palestinian people are imminent if it is accepted without contestation that criticizing  the State of Israel can be associated with and classified as an expression of anti-Semitism, or that actions putting pressure on the State of Israel such as advocacy of boycott, divestment and sanctions may be criminalized.

Bearing in mind the unjust and unfounded attempt to outlaw six of the most prominent Palestinian civic organizations, MPPM:

- Affirms its solidarity with the targeted organisations, condemning the attack they are suffering, and reiterates its unconditional support for the Palestinian people's struggle for the recognition of their civil and national rights and their right to resistance against oppression;

- Calls on Portuguese civil society to join in this solidarity with the Palestinian people and their organisations;

- Alerts Portuguese public opinion to the danger that compromising with measures to silence denunciations of abuses by the State of Israel will pave the way for more radical forms of curtailment of freedom of expression, association and demonstration;

- Calls on the Members of the Portuguese Parliament and the Portuguese Members of the European Parliament to remain vigilant against cunning ways of limiting or even criminalising legitimate expressions of international solidarity under false pretexts;

- Demands that the Portuguese government, in coherence and respect for the Constitution of the Republic, International Law, International Humanitarian Law and the commitments made in international forums, respond to the appeal of those Palestinian human rights organisations, and condemn the declaration of the government of Israel, calling for its immediate revocation.

29 October 2021

MPPM National Directorate