First to break the story was the Finnish local paper Kirkko ja Kaupunki (Church and City)
In part funded by billionaire George Soros, but with the lion share of 71% being funded by the Finnish taxpayer.
Ahtisaari’s CMI arranged a peace deal between the radical Islamist Hamas and Fatah
Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari’s CMI-led crisis management organization has served as a mediator between Fatah and Hamas, a terrorist organization. Swiss source, the CMI paid expenses of EUR 17 000 of the EUR 85 000 total.
Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs and President Martti Ahtisaari -led crisis management organization Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) has funded nearly EUR 85 000 in Geneva for last December meeting, where the radical Islamist Hamas negotiated with the Fatah party in the formation of a new unity government Palestinian self-government.
The matter was first told by the Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung , as well as based on the Jerusalem Post .
The Swiss government paid the expenses of EUR 67 805. Basler Zeitung did not tell the name of the Finnish organization, but the paper confirmed to the Church and to the city that it is CMI, who paid the conference fees of approximately EUR 17 000.
THE GENEVA MEETING WAS THE BASLER ZEITUNG, ALSO CALLED A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD.
According to Basler Zeitung, the negotiations in December the Palestinian-Masarate think tank was an important factor. It is also the CMI partner. According to the Swiss Masarate director Hani al-Masri , is a former terrorist organization PFLP supporter. According to Basler Zeitung, the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad was invited to the Geneva meeting also, but when the Palestinians on social network criticized the expensive costs of the meeting, the organization withdrew its participation.
More here in Finnish
Finnish NGO in violation of terrorism law for funding Hamas parlay?
By Benjamin Weinthal
The Finnish organization CMI doled out $18,177 to fund a meeting of the EU and US classified terrorist entity Hamas with the Palestinian Fatah party in Geneva, Switzerland in December, according to a Friday story in the Finland daily Kirkko ja kaupunki.
The Finnish organization Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), which is headed by Finland’s former president Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari, joined the Swiss government to organize the two day talks to unify the Gaza-based Hamas and the West Bank’s Fatah party. The Swiss paid nearly $72,000 for the negotiations.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the head of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post on Friday:”The ways in which European officials use NGO funding in the chaotic Middle East is very disturbing. This is the new form of colonialism and, as this case involving the governments of Finland and Switzerland shows, NGO activities can be used as a cover by terrorists — for which there is no excuse.”
He added,”The claim that these activities contribute to peace is both morally unacceptable and baseless — in decades of ‘negotiations’ involving PLO, Hamas and recently, PFLP officials, none of the Swiss and European efforts have succeeded. Millions of euros, Swiss francs, kroner etc. of taxpayer money are allocated for NGOs every year in top-secret processes without any parliamentary supervision. Nothing useful has been accomplished through these NGO-led talks between Palestinian factions, and it is possible that the process was exploited by the terrorists.”
Steinberg further noted, “ NGO Monitor has been calling for detailed independent examination of such funding in Switzerland and throughout Europe and this case makes emphasizes the urgency of this.”
The Basler Zeitung first published an account of the Hamas-Fatah meeting last week but the name of the Finnish NGO was not known at that point.
The spokesman for Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs Emmanuel Nahshon told the Finnish paper that Hamas-Fatah meeting is an internal Palestinian affair.
The Palestinian terrorist organization Islamic Jihad was invited to the parley but cancelled its participation.
It is unclear if the EU or the Finnish government will pursue legal action against the CMI for a possible violation of anti-terror laws in the European Union. Post press queries to CMI were not immediately returned.
