Toronto (May 27, 2020) - Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) has called on Canada's foreign affairs minister to launch an investigation following allegations that Canadian funds donated to international agencies for the purposes of coronavirus response ended up in the hands of anti-Israel terrorist groups.

According to a new report by NGO Monitor, millions of dollars of Canadian public money donated to the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for Covid-19 response efforts in the West Bank and Gaza were handed over to affiliates of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

“Public monies intended for international development and relief purposes should never be used to support terrorist efforts,” FSWC wrote in a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne. “We ask you to launch an immediate investigation into the allocation of Canadian funds given to OCHA and WHO for the purposes of COVID-19 response in the West Bank and Gaza.. to determine whether indeed our aid funds were inappropriately diverted to terrorist affiliates, and if so, what will be done to ensure that no future public funds can be misused in this way.”

The PFLP has been involved in terrorist activity for more than five decades, responsible for numerous plane hijackings, bus bombings, assassinations and suicide attacks in Israel and elsewhere. PFLP members are currently on trial in Israel for the murder last August of Israeli school girl Rena Schnerb. The PFLP is considered a terrorist organization by the Government of Canada.

‍