Defense for Children International — Palestine (DFCI-P), an NGO the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared as a terror organization, is campaigning to urge voters to support a resolution sponsored by Democrats calling on the US to condemn Israel.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported on Sunday that DFCI-P sent an e-mail on Thursday urging voters to pressure lawmakers to back a Democrat-sponsored resolution “condemning” Israel.
“Your member of Congress hasn’t signed on to Rep. McCollum’s House Resolution to condemn this criminalization of Palestinian civil society,” Brad Parker, senior adviser for policy and advocacy at Defense for Children International — Palestine (DFCI-P), wrote in the email. “It’s crucial that our leaders stand up to any attempt to quash civil society, especially when the U.S. gives the Israeli government $3.8 billion a year. Tell your representative to reject the Israeli criminalization of Palestinian civil society.”
Ironically, the email was sent one day before the Palestinian Islamic Jihad began firing 1,000 rockets at Israeli cities, many of which fell inside Gaza and killed their own people.
The resolution is co-sponsored by Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota and 10 other Democrats, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Cori Bush of Missouri, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. It demands the US condemn Israel for its “repressive designation” of the groups, decsribing Israel’s terror designations of DFCI-P and other groups as “authoritarian” and calls on “Israeli authorities to immediately end efforts aimed at persecuting, delegitimizing, and criminalizing Palestinian human rights defenders and civil society organizations.”
“Whereas the Government of Israel designated six prominent Palestinian human rights and civil society groups as ‘terrorist organizations’ on October 19, 2021, a designation that effectively criminalizes the activities of legitimate civil society groups and authorizes Israeli authorities to close their offices, seize their assets, and arrest and jail their staff members,” reads the resolution.
22 Democratic members of the House, including the Squad members, wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in July, calling for the U.S. to reject Israel’s terror designation of DFCI-P and other groups. The letter was supported by more than 130 pro-Palestine and left-leaning organizations and posted on the DFCI-P website.
NGO Monitor reported that DFCI-P employed and appointed as board members “numerous individuals with alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.” The Israeli Ministry of Defense declared DCI-P a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.” DCI-P is also actively involved in promoting BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanction) and legal campaigns (“lawfare”) against Israel.
