Today, Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) led 21 of her colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, expressesing serious concern for the six Palestinian human rights organizations Israel designated as “terrorist organizations” last fall.

The letter requests an inter-agency briefing to discuss this designation and the secret evidence distributed by the Israeli government. The letter urges Secretary Blinken and Director Haines to; call on the Israeli government to reverse course; to confirm a date for an inter-agency briefing with members of Congress; and provide a report to Congress on these efforts within 30 days, and ultimately to publicly reject this decision.

APN’s President and CEO Hadar Susskind said:

“Although months have passed since the original claims were made, Israel has since failed to provide any public evidence to substantiate its allegations. The secret documents distributed to European diplomats and members of Congress by the Israeli government failed to provide concrete evidence of the alleged connections between the groups and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Last week 9 EU donor countries to the NGOs released a joint statement finding a lack of evidence to support Israel’s claims. The United States should make its own position clear. We are grateful to Congresswoman Pressley and her colleagues for their leadership on this crucial issue.”