+972 reports:

On Oct. 22, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz designated six prominent Palestinian human rights groups as “terrorist organizations,” citing alleged links with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a left-wing Palestinian party and militant movement. Despite the severity of the declaration, which was reportedly based on intelligence gathered by the Shin Bet, Israel has failed to present any documents directly or indirectly linking the six organizations to the PFLP or to any violent activity.

So on what evidence was this declaration supposedly based? This question has been asked over the last two weeks by the human rights community, as well as a small number of Knesset members and senior representatives of countries friendly to Israel. A source inside the defense establishment was widely quoted in Israeli media saying that the proof against the Palestinian groups was “rock solid.”

However, information from classified documents that we are revealing here for the first time casts serious doubt on that claim. [Continue reading…]