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Israel shuts down West Bank nonprofit, accusing it of terrorism — Palestinian officials
The Israel Defense Forces shut down the headquarters of a Palestinian nonprofit in the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday, saying it supported terrorism, Palestinian officials said.
AFP journalists in Nablus reported that the building housing the headquarters of Al-Tadamon Charitable Society had been sealed off, its metal front gate welded shut.
“This union has been declared an illegal entity and has been shut down due to its involvement in and support for terrorism,” a sign in English and Arabic posted on the front gate read.
Nablus mayor Anan al-Atira said she was taken aback by the raid. “We were surprised after the raid to find that they had closed down a charitable organization, the Al-Tadamon Charitable Society,” Atira told AFP.
The military told AFP it was looking into the details of the raid.
Israel has carried out numerous raids against Palestinian organizations accused of working with or financing terror groups.
The charity declined to comment on the closure.
A source close to the organization, however, told AFP that the move was linked to accusations of coordination with the Gaza-based rights group Addameer, which Israel has blacklisted as a terror group — allegations the source rejected.
Atira said Al-Tadamon provided services for orphans and ran at least three schools and a clinic. She added that the charity “has been working in this country for many years, providing relief services and services for orphans.”
Nablus governor Ghassan Daghlas, speaking to reporters outside the organization’s headquarters, said: “To target Al-Tadamon charity is to target all the poor among our people.”
Ghassan Hamdan, the director of the Medical Relief Society, another charity in Nablus, described the closure as a new step in Israeli policy in the West Bank, which it seized from Jordan in 1967 in the Six Day War.
“This is part of Israel’s escalation policy, which began with the siege and blockade of Palestinian cities and various governorates, raids and settlement expansion,” Hamdan claimed. “Now it has moved on to targeting charitable institutions.”
Al-Tadamon’s closure comes amid ongoing tensions in the West Bank, where tensions have flared since the start of the war in Gaza with Hamas’s terror onslaught on October 7, 2023.
