Palestinian NGOs accuse Israel of death threats

After months of harassment, Al Jazeera reported that human rights groups have accused Israel of being behind ongoing threats against their representatives at the Hague.

"This is a very organized and advanced campaign," Shawan Jabarin, the director of Al Haq, a Palestinian NGO based in Ramallah told Al Jazeera.

"The goal is to stop us [from] dealing actively with the [International Criminal Court]. They want to plant fear on our side . . . when it comes to accountability [and] when it comes to advocacy work." "Israel is behind it," Jabarin claimed.

"Criminals, all the time, they are afraid. When you start searching and looking to identify them, they will become afraid. For them, it's easy to defeat politicians, but it's not easy for them to defeat the human rights defenders."

The program director at Palestinian policy network Al Shabaka, Alaa Tartir, concurred with the allegations, telling Al Jazeera that the campaign is "an act of fear, first and foremost," and noting that the number of Palestinian organizations working together with the ICC is a "worrying sign for Israel and its friends, so this is why they are doing what they are doing now."