WASHINGTON, 29 October 2021, (TON): Congresswoman Betty McCollum, chair of the US House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, introduced a resolution condemning Israeli authorities for labeling six human rights organizations as “terrorist groups.”

Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who is in a power-sharing agreement to take over as Prime Minister from incumbent Naftali Bennett in two years, announced the designation of the groups last week.

It gives authorities the power to close offices, seize assets and arrest and imprison staff without trial or formal public proceedings.

McCollum said in a prepared statement released with the resolution “when a government uses the label of ‘terrorist’ as a weapon to silence the work of human rights organizations and advocates who courageously represent vulnerable people living in under military occupation, it is a sign of incredible weakness more aligned with an authoritarian regime than a healthy democracy.”

“Israel’s decision to brand these prominent Palestinian civil-society groups as terrorist organizations exposes the truth that Israel’s occupation is violent, immoral and unjust, and that peaceful efforts to defend the rights of Palestinian children, women, farmers or prisoners must be declared illegal.”