Israel will send envoys from the Shin Bet and Foreign Ministry to Washington this week to present unequivocal proof that the six Palestinian “human rights” groups that Israel designated as terrorist entities have ties to terror, Walla reported on Sunday night.

A senior defense official told reporters on Sunday that the proof of the groups’ ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is “ironclad.”

Gantz’s announcement on Friday led to tension between Israel and the US with State Department spokesperson Ned Price claiming that Israel “didn’t give us prior warning about this designation” and the US will “seek clarification” on the issue.

However, the head of the Foreign Ministry’s department of strategic affairs visited Washington last week and informed the Bureau of Counterterrorism within the State Department of Israel’s intention regarding the six Palestinian groups. Apparently, the information was not passed on to other relevant departments.

“The intelligence materials related to the terrorist organizations are part of a large file of information which includes irrefutable evidence, including videos, photographs, receipts of money transfers, and other proofs – all related to these six organizations that support terrorist activity,” a senior Israeli official told Walla. “These materials leave no room for doubt on the matter; they prove beyond doubt that the organizations and the people belonging to them are all linked to the terrorist PFLP group.”

It’s not just the United States that is “outraged” by Israel’s announcement: the EU, the UN, and even Bennet’s coalition partner, the Meretz party, has issued scathing condemnations of Israel’s announcement.

I am outraged by news that #Israel designated six #Palestinian human rights NGOs as “terrorist organizations”. Defending human rights, calling for accountability, fighting against arbitrary arrests, is a legitimate work and must be respected, not shut by flawed terrorism laws.

— UN Special Rapporteur Freedom of Association (@cvoule) October 24, 2021

“Several EU countries are ‘outraged’ at the Israeli decision to define the six Palestinian organizations as terrorist organizations,” Kan News reporter Amichai Stein wrote on Twitter. “‘We have not been updated in advance on the Israeli decision,’ they said. ‘We will ask for clarifications from Israel.’

With #Israel receiving outrage over designation of #PFLP terror groups, I am reminded of these immortal words by Golda Meir:

“If we have to choose between beingu dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.” pic.twitter.com/u85NW0YGr5

— Arsen Ostrovsky 🎗️ (@Ostrov_A) October 25, 2021

“These EU countries also contribute to some of those organizations, so the anger is much greater. Israeli officials say that they did transfer intelligence materials to some EU countries in the past, but as mentioned, European anger is focused [on the fact] that they did not receive advance warning. In light of the European anger, a joint appeal to the Israeli Foreign Ministry is expected from several EU countries that financially support these organizations for clarification.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)