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href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-eu-funding-israeli-torturers">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-eu-funding-israeli-torturers</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Why is the EU funding Israeli torturers?</h1>
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<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah">Ali
Abunimah</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">-
</span><span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2017-06-27T19:49:04+00:00">27 June 2017</span></span>
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<p>The European Union is illegally funding Israeli
torturers and must stop, a group of prominent
international legal experts has concluded.</p>
<p>They <a
href="http://www.eccpalestine.org/prominent-legal-experts-confirm-israels-record-of-torture-makes-eu-funding-of-law-train-project-illegal/">say</a>
that the LAW-TRAIN program violates EU regulations and
international law because one of the participants,
Israel’s public security ministry, “is responsible for
or complicit in torture, other crimes against humanity
and war crimes.”</p>
<p>LAW-TRAIN began in May 2015 with the ostensible aim
of “harmonizing and sharing interrogation techniques
between the countries involved in order to face the
new challenges in transnational criminality.”</p>
<p>It is funded through an EU research program called <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/horizon-2020">Horizon 2020</a>,
which has also channeled millions of dollars <a
href="http://www.eccpalestine.org/eu-funding-to-israeli-military-companies-and-institutions-through-horizon2020/">to
Israel’s arms industry</a>.</p>
<h2>Extensive use of torture</h2>
<p>LAW-TRAIN <a
href="http://www.law-train.eu/partners/">involves</a>
Israel’s <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/bar-ilan-university-0">Bar-Ilan
University</a>, the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/israeli-ministry-public-security">Israeli
public security ministry</a>, Belgium’s Catholic
University of Leuven, the Belgian justice ministry,
Spain’s Civil Guard paramilitary police and the
Romanian police. Its advisory board includes Cornelia
Geldermans, a prosecutor in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>Portugal was originally involved, but <a
href="https://bdsmovement.net/news/portuguese-government-withdraws-controversial-project-israeli-police-following-bds-pressure">pulled
out last year</a> in the face of mounting public
opposition to Israel’s role in the EU program.</p>
<p>LAW-TRAIN is scheduled to run until April 2018 and
half of its nearly $6 million budget will go to the
Israeli participants.</p>
<p>“The use of torture by Israeli interrogators has been
extensively documented in the international and
Israeli press and confirmed by international
investigators and by Israeli interrogators
themselves,” Michel Waelbroeck, the author of the
legal opinion and a member of the Institute of
International Law, stated. “In June 2016, the UN
Committee against Torture denounced Israel’s use of
torture and its illegal, abusive techniques during
interrogations by its police and prison staff.”</p>
<p>The opinion is endorsed by 25 international legal
experts and jurists, including former UN human rights
investigators <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/richard-falk">Richard
Falk</a> and <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/john-dugard">John
Dugard</a>, and Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, a former
Dutch deputy prime minister and former director
general at the European Commission.</p>
<p>Israel has a well-documented record of torture,
including <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israeli-counterterrorism-means-abuse-and-torture-children">against
children</a>, and has <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-dismisses-1000-complaints-torture">systematically
failed to investigate</a> complaints of abuse.</p>
<h2>Illegal funding</h2>
<p>In February, <a
href="http://www.eccpalestine.org/hundreds-of-belgian-academics-and-artists-urge-their-government-to-end-participation-in-joint-eu-funded-project-with-israeli-national-police/">hundreds
of Belgian academics and artists</a> urged their
government to end its support for LAW-TRAIN, and <a
href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+WQ+E-2016-008769+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN">questions</a>
have been raised about the project in the European
Parliament.</p>
<p>Human rights organizations from Palestine, Belgium
and Spain have also <a
href="https://www.stopthewall.org/sites/default/files/LettreLawTrain_CE-2.pdf">written
to EU officials</a> expressing concern about the
support for Israeli entities engaged in torture.</p>
<p>As opposition to LAW-TRAIN grew, the European
Commission, the EU’s executive bureaucracy, <a
href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getAllAnswers.do?reference=E-2016-008769&language=EN">conducted
an evaluation</a> by an “independent expert panel”
that concluded the program had “Good to excellent
compliance” with EU laws, including the European
Charter of Fundamental Rights.</p>
<p>But the legal experts say that the review ignored key
EU regulations that ban funding to individuals or
organizations that engage in “grave professional
misconduct” such as torture.</p>
<p>The legal experts conclude that because Israel’s
public security ministry is “guilty of grave and
continuing breaches” of European and international
prohibitions on torture, the EU funding is illegal.</p>
<p>But far from taking action to hold Israel accountable
for torture, Carlos Moedas, the EU’s head of research,
<a
href="https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/israel/26419/eu-commissioner-research-science-and-innovation-visits-israel_en">recently
visited Israel</a> to celebrate its involvement in
Horizon 2020.</p>
<h2>Protest in France</h2>
<p>While top EU officials <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/eu-pledges-help-israel-suppress-criticism">tighten
their embrace</a> of Israel’s regime of occupation,
apartheid and settler-colonialism over Palestinians,
European citizens are continuing to urge an end to
such complicity.</p>
<p>Activists from BDS France <a
href="https://www.bdsfrance.org/action-bds-au-salon-de-laeronautique-et-de-lespace-le-samedi-24-juin-2017/">held
this protest</a> outside the pavilion of the Israeli
arms maker <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/elbit">Elbit
Systems</a> at the Paris Air Show on Saturday.</p>
<p>The protesters can be seen in the video staging a
“die-in” and holding a banner denouncing Israel for <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/cruel-experiments-israels-arms-industry/19011">testing
its weapons on Palestinians</a>.</p>
<p>The protesters called for an arms embargo, an end to
military cooperation with Israel and support for the
boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.</p>
<p>Elbit is a major manufacturer of drones that Israel
has <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/new-uk-drones-field-tested-captive-palestinians">used
to kill Palestinian civilians</a>. It was <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/how-israels-war-industry-profits-violent-us-immigration-reform/13283">contracted
by the Obama administration</a> to provide
surveillance technology along the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/us-mexico-border-wall">US-Mexico
border</a>.</p>
<p>Elbit has also been a big recipient of European Union
funds.</p>
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