US 'Concerned' About Recent Israeli Raids on Palestinian NGOs, State Dept Spox Says

On Thursday, seven institutions with alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) were shut down during an arrest operation in the West Bank by Israeli security forces, including the IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and Border Police, due to them earlier being labeled as terror groups.

Israel raided seven Palestinian NGO offices in the West Bank, and the State Department's spokesperson said on Thursday that the United States is "concerned," adding that Israel has not given enough material to support its categorization of the organizations as terrorist groups.

In a daily briefing, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that after reaching out to senior Israeli officials, the US received an assurance that more information will be "forthcoming regarding the basis of their actions."

However, Israel has reportedly not yet indicated when they will give Washington this information.

"Even as we begin reviewing it on an immediate urgent basis, it is going to take some time for us to understand what I presume will be a complex set of issues and facts," Price said.

This is the first time the Biden administration has publicly acknowledged that the data Israel supplied to support its actions did not persuade the US to change its stance about the designation of these groups, made in the fall of last year.

Furthermore, he emphasized that "independent civil society organizations in the West Bank and Israel must be able to continue their important work. Civil society is an integral element to thriving democracies in the world and of course, that applies here."

The European Union said it "will continue to stand by international law and support [civil society organizations] that have a role to play in promoting international law, human rights, and democratic values," while the UN Human Rights office also denounced Israel's actions.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's financial network, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry's allegations made in October of last year, included six Palestinian organizations.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed an order adding Addameer, Al-Haq, the Bisan Center for Research & Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees, and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees to the list of terrorist groups.

🚨🚨Breaking: This morning, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) raided Al-Haq’s office in Ramallah, confiscated items and shut down the main entrance with an iron plate leaving behind a military order declaring the organization unlawful 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Y8yqRdU4Db

— Al-Haq الحق (@alhaq_org) August 18, 2022

BREAKING 🚨 The Israeli occupation forces raided UAWC’s office early this morning 18th of August, as well as the offices of the other #6organizations. They destroyed office equipment, confiscated materials and left a closing order behind. pic.twitter.com/hVaHrRIaKS

— Union of Agricultural Work Committees (@UAWC1986) August 18, 2022

All six of the groups refute the accusations. The seventh group, the Union of Health Committees, was banned as early as 2020.

On Thursday, however, they had their doors locked by the Israeli army.

In a statement released earlier this week, Gantz's office reiterated the justification for the government's strategy toward the organizations, stating that "the organizations operate under the guise of performing humanitarian activities to further the goals of the PFLP terrorist organization, to strengthen the organization and to recruit operatives."