The European Commission is set to announce continued payments of development aid to the Palestinian territories, despite acknowledging the “risk” of funding Hamas.
In the wake of the October 7th terror attacks against Israel, Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi announced a freeze of aid to Palestine. His announcement had clearly not been signed off on, with senior officials quickly scrambling to contradict the comments. But they still appear to have prompted an official internal audit on funding.
The Financial Times reported on Monday that the audit found “its funding was not inadvertently financing terror groups.” But the Commission, which is the largest external donor to Hamas-controlled Gaza, is reluctant to impose new checks to ensure that funds do not land in the wrong hands—including a ban on EU payments to Palestinians who express support for Hamas or voice antisemitic views. Politico cited one official who “warned that any future development aid would become almost impossible under the proposed additional conditions.” This appears to suggest that EU funds are already being given to pro-Hamas antisemites—or, at best, that Brussels officials believe this to be the case.
Some commentators responded to calls for a freeze on EU aid to Palestine by suggesting this would actually be a boost for Hamas. Martin Konečný, who runs the Brussels-based European Middle East Project, wrote in The Guardian that cutting off assistance would “punish the EU-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), which is Hamas’s chief rival. By further weakening the PA and increasing the prospect of its collapse in the West Bank, suspending the funds would be a gift to Hamas.”
The Times columnist Melanie Phillips has, however, since painted such a view as “naive about hatred of Israel.” She has been highly critical of “the widespread Western belief that, while Hamas are ‘bad’ Palestinians, the PA are ‘good’ Palestinians who are entitled to a state of their own,” noting:
Officials in both the PA and its dominant Fatah party have responded to October 7 by urging more slaughter of Jews, calling for the end of Israel and expressing excitement over the Hamas atrocities as “a source of pride, heroism, and honour for the Palestinian people.”
In reviewing last month whether its support for PA “needs to be adjusted,” the Commission appears to have missed—or ignored—such concerning themes; or, as Phillips put it, to have fallen for “whatever PA leaders may say in English for naive Western consumption.”
Commission mouthpieces have so far declined to comment on the continuation of aid.
Their audit is reportedly still investigating two “civil society groups,” which receive aid, over alleged hate speech. An official said that due to the “overall situation, we need to further strengthen our controls to further mitigate the risk.” A third-party monitor will look over future payments, but their identity is not yet known.
Reports on continued aid payments said little about the estimated 240 Israeli hostages taken during the October 7th attacks and about hopes of an impending deal which could result in their release.
