France’s government has given roughly $10 million to a Palestinian group that supports boycotting Israel, despite the fact that in the country, promoting BDS is illegal.
The French Development Agency, or AFD, which focuses on “on climate, biodiversity, peace, education, urban development, health and governance,” allocated about that amount to the NGO Development Center, or NDC, which says it supports Palestinian nongovernmental organizations and “their representative entities to more effectively respond to the needs of the most disadvantaged groups in Palestinian society.”
NDC was behind the 2008 “Palestinian NGO Code of Conduct,” a document that states a rejection of “any normalization activities with the occupier [Israel], neither at the political-security nor the cultural or developmental levels.”
The NDC has provided funding to pro-BDS groups and organizations with alleged ties to terrorism, according to NGO Monitor, a watchdog group that profiles anti-Israel NGOs.
Mevellec said that France “supports strengthening local capabilities that improve the lives of populations” in what the country considers Palestinian territories. She added that “the sole purpose of France and AFD is improving the welfare of [those] populations.”