Wiesenthal Centre to French Foreign Minister: “Government Charitable Donations Must be Conditional on Not Rewarding Terror”

December 5, 2018

In a letter to French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian (pictured), the Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, cited a report from Palestinian Media Watch:

“- France in 2018 donated 16 million Euro to the Palestinian Authority (PA) general budget (Al Hayat Al Jadida, 13 November 2018).
- The Palestinian Authority (PA) general budget pays salaries to terrorists.
- France tax payer money is part of this budget, which is used to reward Palestinian terrorists.”

The letter continued, “PA Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, admitted this on Palestinian Television on 28 October 2018:
‘I say this to everyone, the salaries of our martyrs, prisoners and wounded are a red line... this matter is sacred... We must pay all of them. If one penny remains in our hands, it is for them and not for the living’.”

Samuels argued that, “We are aware that, in the same manner, widows and children of terrorists killed in action receive pensions out of the PA general budget, thus the donors should know that they are providing a "life insurance", so that the so-called Shahid (martyr) Jihadi may go to Paradise, knowing his family is financially covered.”

The Centre added: “The irony is that the donor’s ‘life insurance for terrorists’ is theft from projects for civil society needs, medicine, food or education - the targets ostensibly earmarked in the French grant”

“We call on you, Mr. Minister, to investigate the end users of French largesse and to ensure that there are clear contractual strictures as to the beneficiaries/recipients. There must be a clear condition that such funds will, in no way, finance nor reward terrorism and be subject to public audit,” concluded Samuels.

For further information, contact Shimon Samuels at +33 609 770 158, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).