Following the initiative of the Movement for Palestinian Rights, more than 40 NGOs have sent an appeal to Prime Minister Robert Golob and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon to immediately withdraw their support for Israel, which in turn means supporting the terrorist Hamas. But that is not all, they are also united in calling for an end to economic and political cooperation with Israel and for the recognition of Palestine as an independent state. Their call that was published on social media has caused quite a stir in the public, as taxpayers’ money seems to be flowing into organisations that support terrorism.
Several organisations and movements, including Jaša Jenull’s Voice of the People (Glas ljudstva) and the Youth Plus trade unions (Mladi Plus), led by the notorious activist Tea Jarc, have called for an immediate withdrawal of “support for Israeli occupation policy” in a public letter to Prime Minister Robert Golob and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, at the initiative of the first signatory – the Movement for Palestinian Rights. Israel is violating international law and the Palestinians’ right to exist, they wrote.
The Voice of the People, the Youth Plus trade unions, the Peace Institute (Mirovni inštitut) and other NGO elites have called on the government to withdraw support for Israel and, at the same time, to withdraw support for the victims of terrorist crimes. These are more than 40 NGOs, already funded by taxpayers’ money, which would now, with their support and other people’s money, show their support for the brutal murderers of the terrorist organisation Hamas. The list published on Facebook by the Movement for Palestinian Rights came as a surprise to no one. Former Prime Minister Janez Janša also responded to the post, writing: “Save this. The Red Brigades in the #Hamas branch. Imminent danger. And at the same time, big spenders of your money.”
In their letter, NGOs warn that political condemnations of Hamas’s attacks on Israel “should not lose sight of the root cause of violence in the region – Israel’s policy of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, colonisation and total military control over the Palestinian population,” which is practically a justification of Hamas’s brutality in the name of “decolonisation”. They believe that the unilateral support for Israel, which has also been expressed by Prime Minister Golob and Foreign Minister Fajon, is contributing to the escalation of violence in the region. They are critical of the fact that Palestinian attacks on Israel are being condemned, while Israeli attacks on Palestine are seen as part of their right to self-defence. “Such statements ignore Israel’s violations of international law and the right of the Palestinian people to exist, as well as their rights to self-determination and self-defence,” they wrote, but many disagree with them. One user of the social platform X wrote: “This is a DISASTER! All these “NGOs” are heavily funded with taxpayers’ money by the government – meanwhile, we have no money for the victims of floods, for pensioners, for healthcare … But we have money to fund the supporters of the worst, most brutal murderers and cannibals. This is SHAMEFUL!!!”
Another user wrote: “When you multiply this list of street fighters by €300,000, it is clear why the public coffers are empty after only 1.5 years! But since the current government’s mandate will last for another 2.5 years, the tax increase suddenly makes sense! #insurrection,” recalling the fact that a certain friend’s NGO received €300,000 from the now-former Minister of Public Administration, Sanja Ajanović Hovnik, the news of which has still not died down in public to this day.
Even more funding for terrorism financing?
On the proposal of Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon (Social democrats – SD), the government has decided to send €150,000 to help Palestinians in the Middle East. It will be sent as a humanitarian contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) in the year 2023. The government decided to do this following the horrific terrorist attacks by the Palestinian terrorist movement Hamas from Gaza, followed by several days of bombardments by both the Israeli army, attacking the Hamas positions in Gaza, and by Gaza, attacking the Israeli settlements. “The problem with this aid,” as Peter Jančič wrote in the media outlet Spletni časopis (Online Journal), “is that it is well known that the money to help people in dire need is usually spent on armament and infrastructure for the Hamas terrorists, who, with a very poor population in dire need, have a lot of resources for rockets and artillery.”
Withdrawal of support and suspension of economic cooperation with Israel
The NGOs thus called on Golob and Fajon to immediately withdraw Slovenia’s statements of support for Israel. In addition, the signatories of the aforementioned call believe that they should suspend economic and political cooperation with Israel and recognise Palestine as an independent state. As they stated on Facebook, these are “the first steps Slovenia will take to start demanding that Israel respect its international obligations and that the Slovenian government keep its pre-election promises.”
A. H.
