An investigation by a Zionist NGO revealed that a euphemistically named “agricultural” students’ group is actually a front for a Palestinian terrorist organization, facilitating the transfer of foreign funds to terrorists.

A recent investigation by the Intelligence Division of the Regavim Movement, which monitors the activities of the Palestinian Authority and foreign organizations in Area C, revealed that the “Union of Agricultural Work Committees” (UAWC), officially designated as a terrorist organization by Defense Minister Gantz, is running a “student exchange program for Palestinian students” in cooperation with academic institutions in France and Great Britain. 

The UAWC was declared a terrorist organization by the Ministry of Defense in 2021 after the close connection between the organization’s activities and terrorist activity, including the murder of Rina Shnerb in the summer of 2019, was exposed. In the formal announcement of the UAWC’s designation as being affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist organization that is responsible for many deadly terrorist attacks targeting Jews in Israel and overseas. The Ministry of Defense has definitively proven that the UAWC serves as a conduit for the flow of millions of Euros to the PFLP, its parent organization. This is consistent with the PFLP’s activities which, in the past, have diverted European humanitarian aid from NGOs to itself for nefarious purposes.

 The UAWC is one of a group of PFLP offshoots that pose as civil society organizations while, in reality, their sole purpose is to battle against the existence of the State of Israel and support the illegal Palestinian Authority annexation of Area C and all of Judea and Samaria. 

 The newly-exposed international student exchange program claims to “strengthen young people in relation to agricultural and environmental activities.” The program, scheduled for this coming July, includes visits to Marseille, Berlin, and Hebron. In the admission conditions, it is stated, among other things, that priority will be given to residents of Area C. 

The connection between the UAWC and the PFLP is well-documented. NGO Monitor reported that the UAWC has not published any financial data, donor information, or sources of funding on its website since 2014, reflecting a “complete lack of transparency and accountability”. 

In June 2018, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express shut down online credit card donations for UAWC due to its ties to the PFLP. In 2012, World Vision Australia suspended activities with UAWC due to its alleged ties to the PFLP.

Three years ago, the Dutch government announced that it was suspending funding to UAWC over links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The links included UAWC funds being used to pay the salaries of at least two PFLP members. 

Last year, the Netherlands followed suit after it was determined that the UAWC had 34 employees with ties to the PFLP including several who held leadership positions in the terrorist organization.

The UAWC is identified by Fatah (PLO) as an official PFLP “affiliate,” and by USAID as the “agricultural arm” of the PFLP. 

Donors to the UAWC include the European Union, France, Netherlands, Spain (AECID), Norwegian People’s Aid, Medico, Grassroots International, Oxfam Solidarité, and the United Nations. The EU has already guaranteed €3.4 million to a UAWC in Gaza in the years 2021-2025, in collaboration with the Ma’an Development Center and Oxfam Novib.

 Last week, the Regavim Movement sent a letter to the Minister of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces demanding steps to immediately halt the UAWC program, as well as decisive action against its ongoing activities, particularly those involving foreign governments. MK Sharren Haskel (National Unity Party – HaMahane HaMamlakhti) submitted a query to the Minister of Defense asking why a terrorist organization is allowed to operate freely inside of Israel. 

 “The designation of a terrorist organization must not remain merely a declaration,” said Avraham Binyamin, Director of Regavim’s Policy and Parliamentary Affairs Division. “We were surprised to discover, in the course of ongoing intelligence research, that the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, a designated terrorist organization, continues its operations openly among Palestinian students and in cooperation with foreign countries. The Israeli government’s failure to act against the activities of this terrorist organization constitutes abandonment of territory under Israeli jurisdiction. Israel must act immediately to block the UAWC’s ability to operate on the local and international stage to spread its terrorist agenda, and to cut off the UAWC’s ability to maintain international contacts that funnel European money to the PFLP. We demand that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summon the ambassadors of France and Germany and condemn their  cooperation with the UAWC in particular and their involvement in illegal activity in areas C in general.”