Manal Tamimi and Munther Amira, members of the Palestinian Struggle Coordination Committee were invited by NOVACT to attend to the Conference of the Observatory to Prevent Violent Extremism last January in Barcelona. Manal and Munther are well-known for their defence of Human Rights in Palestine and nonviolent struggle.
During their visit to Barcelona, some people linked to pro-Israeli movement spread false accusations on social networks about Manal and Munther, and accusing them of being terrorists. The whole situation was very stressful, frustrating and painful for people who already live under difficult conditions in their land.
The intention of these Pro-Israeli movements was to try and force the Spanish police to arrest Munther and Manal, something that never happened.
After these events occurred, two organisations, the Spanish newspaper Interconomia and the Israeli association NGO Monitor believed false rumours spread by Pro-Israeli movements and spread false accusations stating that Munther Amira and Manal Tamimi had been arrested.
This information is false since: 1) Amira and Tamimi travelled to Spain to participate in the definition of a Euro-Mediterranean Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism; 2) Amira and Tamimi were never arrested nor had problems with Spanish authorities; 3) Amira and Tamimi travelled to Spain on regular visas delivered by the Spanish consulate, and 4) in order to travel to Spain, Amira and Tamimi, who are residents of the West Bank, had to pass through Israeli border control. If the information published by the abovementioned were true, they would have been arrested at the Israeli border and not in Spain.
After informing Intereconomía, the newspaper rectified the information and published a public apology to Munther Amira for having spread false accusations and information. We are grateful that they took this step forward. We are waiting for NGO monitor to do the same.
Even though Manal and Munther weren’t arrested we want to condemn the lies and false accusations spread on the internet which have been present in different newspapers such as NGO Monitor and Intereconomia. The second one, had to rectify its article after proof was presented that they were lying.
Following is the PSCC, the Palestinian Struggle Coordination Committees (PSCC), press release:
Date: February 5, 2017
The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC) expresses its strongest condemnation of the continues attacks on its members.
PSCC condemn the right-wing Israeli organizations attacks and threats in Spain against the PSCC general director Mr. Munther Amira and board member Mrs. Manal Tamimi, who are participating in an international conference on mechanisms of facing extremism in the world.
Extremist Jewish organizations put pressure on the Spanish foreign affairs ministry to boycott PSCC. As well they filed a complain to the Spanish police to issue a warrant arrest for Mr. Munther Amira the general director of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC) and its board member Mrs. Manal Tamimi, under the accusation of terrorism.
Amira and Tamim arrived to Barcelona to participate in an international conference “Towards a new paradigm: Preventing Violent Extremism”. The conference was organized by NOVACT and the CMODH in the frame of KHOTWA initiative. The conference is part of a speaking tour in the University of Barcelona and the city of Madrid, to advocate the work of the non-violent resistance in Palestine and to expose the oppression and the suppression of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
Amira responded to all the lies and false accusation ” Because of my political position and defending my people rights , the Zionists lobby attacked me and launched a terrorist alert after they issued a complaint to the Spanish police against me.” He also added “I went to Barcelona unit to give a speech about BDS and popular resistance and the crimes committed by Israeli forces against my people, our weapon is our believe in our rights and the return to Jerusalem our historical capital.”
In response to all the false accusations, the Spanish media has apologized publicly to Mr. Amira as well the Spanish officials parliamentarians.
The international community cannot under any circumstances ignore any longer these violations and must stop Israel´s impunity. The international community has the obligation to protect human rights and its defenders (UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders) by acting in a fast and efficient way to prevent threats and insure their safety during the work of the HRD (UN Declaration Against Torture, European Convention on Human Rights).
We urge the international community to take action against these flagrant violations against the PSCC members and to guarantee the safety of Munther Amira and Manal Tamimi by :
– Please write immediately in Hebrew, English or your own language:
– Condemning the harassment of Munther Amira and Manal Tamimi and calling on the authorities to ensure their safety.
– Calling on them to guarantee their right to peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
We will provide you with updates as they are available, please check our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PopularStruggle/?fref=ts
For any Further information don’t hesitate to contact:
– The PSCC director: MR. Munther Amira: 00972599260445 / munther2003@yahoo.com ,
– The executive director of the PSCC Ms. Isra’a Hinde: 00972598536214 / esraa.hinde@gmail.com
