Israel on Tuesday banned 40 activists affiliated with the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor organization from entering the country, citing ties between the group’s leadership and Hamas terrorists.
The decision followed an Israeli Diaspora Affairs Ministry and Combating Antisemitism report accusing Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor of promoting anti-Israel libels and relying on “partial or unverified information” to advance allegations against the Jewish state in international forums.
The ministry also launched a dedicated website detailing its allegations against the group.
“After exposing the true identity of the Euro-Med organization, which uses the guise of ‘human rights’ to promote terrorist activities, I have instructed the director-general of my ministry, Avi Cohen-Scali, to prevent the entry of 40 of the organization’s activists into Israel,” stated Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli.
“The days when a humanitarian guise could be exploited to promote terrorism are over,” he added. “We will continue to expose, thwart and act against any entity operating against the State of Israel, regardless of the name they choose to hide behind.”
Among those included in the entry ban are the group’s founder and chairman, Ramy Abdu; board of trustees chairman Richard Falk; the director of its Lebanon branch; legal advisers; researchers; media staff; and other senior personnel, the ministry stated.
The statement identified Abdu as a Hamas operative, noting that in 2020 Israel’s defense minister signed an administrative seizure order against him under the Counter-Terrorism Law due to his membership in a Hamas-affiliated organization.
Abdu also “published anti-Israel views while expressing support for the October 7 massacre,” the ministry said, referencing the Hamas-led murder of 1,200 people, primarily Jewish civilians, in 2023.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, while registered in Switzerland as a regional human rights organization, focuses overwhelmingly on anti-Israel advocacy, including documentation efforts, legal submissions to international bodies and media campaigns accusing Israel of war crimes and genocide.
A recent opinion piece by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof accusing Israeli security personnel of sexual offenses against Palestinians was heavily sourced from Euro-Med and its leadership.
