Yasser who?

The other day, I posted this about the EU’s finding that there is no conclusive evidence linking its funds with terrorist activity supported by the Palestinian Authority. Now, the Jerusalem Post reports that at least one member of the EU’s investigatory committee is calling the committee findings “a partial whitewash.” That member is Charles Tannock of Great Britain. He says: “The Working Group Majority Report has chosen to ignore signed payment orders by Chairman Yasser Arafat to the tune of $39,000 to people linked to terrorist activities or their families.” Tannock, along with the five other dissenters among the 13 members, agrees that the evidence examined by the commission does not conclusively establish the use of EU funds for illegal activity and terrorism, since clear links between Arafat’s payment orders and executions of payments cannot be firmly established. After all, it’s only a signed order by Arafat, right? Even so, the evidence is good enough to persuade Tannock that that, “of the money we handed over, some of it, directly or indirectly, ended up where it wasn’t intended to end up.”
And, of course, the commission did not even address the issue of how the EU’s money might have freed up other funds to be used for terrorism. If the issue is whether to keep funding the PA, the standard should be whether that organization promotes or condones terrorism, not whether the EU’s money is used directly for that purpose, much less whether the proof of the direct connection is “conclusive.” But that assumes the EU actually cares about whether the PA engages in terrorism. There is no conclusive evidence that it does.

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