BFOI condemns minister Meryame Kitir for "gross hypocrisy and abuse of public office"

Belgian public funding and the PFLP. Source: NGO Monitor

NGO Monitor claims that members of Kitir's ministry of Development Cooperation support terror against Jews

It is beyond a scandal that a government minister chooses as her right hand person someone who openly supports the murder of Jews.”— BFOI statement

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, January 27, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Earlier today Belgian minister of Development Cooperation tweeted that "Today we commemorate the victims of the #Holocaust. In these difficult times more

determined than ever to protect our democracy in the fight against extremism and fascism."

One commentor wrote in reply to her tweet "Good Mrs Kitir. Now respect for living Jews who have not yet been killed by the subsidized terrorists from YOUR ministry." This is a reference to the evidence uncovered by respected Israeli organisation NGO Monitor that millions of euros of public money is dispensed each year to Belgian NGOs that have partnership relationships with political Palestinian NGOs that have close links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist organisation.

NGO Monitor research has also uncovered the fact that minister Kitir has employed as her spokesperson someone whose father-in-law was a PFLP terrorist. The spokesperson in question is identified by NGO Monitor as Catherine De Bock. In an online article entitled "Support for Terror by Belgian Ministry of Development Cooperation Employees" NGO Monitor screenshots a tweet from De Bock where she refers to her late father-in-law, who was an active member of the PFLP. De Bock wrote that he "died in the struggle for a free Palestine and so did his nephew Basel two days ago. It is our duty to continue their fight".

A statement by Belgian Friends of Israel (BFOI) said that "It is beyond a scandal that a government minister chooses as her right hand person someone who openly supports the murder of Jews in Israel. De Bock should be sacked immediately, and Kitir should be held to account for how she made this dreadful appointment, which appears to us to be an abuse of her office".

The statement continued "Not only does Meryame Kitir fund NGOs linked to Jew-murdering PFLP terrorists, not only does she employ someone with a family member who was one of those PFLP terrorists, not only has she never denounced PFLP terrorists, but today she has the gall to use Holocaust Remembrance Day to score political points. Nowhere does she mention the victims of the Holocaust, the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their local collaborators. Instead she talks loftily about 'protecting our democracy in the fight against extremism'. The fact that she gives money for extreme causes that ends up in the hands of the PFLP is nothing less than gross hypocrisy".

"Any self-respecting fight against extremism should start with Meryame Kitir herself, the statement concludes, "whose actions should be independently investigated without delay. This would be an appropriate way to protect our democracy".