A group known for bringing legal cases against Israeli soldiers claims it is working “closely” with Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union.
The Hind Rajab Foundation has recently “begun working closely with Europol to assist with war crimes investigations across the European Union,” Jake Romm, the U.S. representative for The Hind Rajab Foundation said at the Gaza Tribunal event in Istanbul in October.
In November, following criticism from pro-Israeli organizations over Europol’s alleged relationship with the Hind Rajab Foundation, the group issued a statement clarifying its “cooperation” with Europol.
At Europol’s invitation, the Hind Rajab Foundation spoke at Europol’s “annual meeting in The Hague” this fall, according to the nonprofit organization.
“This invitation forms part of a broader communication process and an exploration of possible cooperation between HRF and Europol,” the Hind Rajab Foundation said in the statement, going on to explain that the group’s General Director Dyab Abou Jahjah, “addressed the assembled delegations during a session organized specifically for the foundation.”
NGO Monitor, a research institute based in Jerusalem, published findings this week also alleging that Europol is cooperating with the Hind Rajab Foundation, a group whose leaders have made public comments disparaging against the state of Israel and Zionism, and even have ties to Hezbollah.
Europol told The Daily Signal it has “been in contact with the Hind Rajab Foundation,” adding that they take “necessary due diligence steps when engaging with such stakeholders,” but Europol did not comment on Romm’s claim that his organization is working “closely” with the EU agency.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, in its own words, uses litigation to pursue “justice in response to the crimes against humanity, war crimes and human rights violations perpetrated by the Israeli state against Palestinians.” But critics of the group argue it has espousing anti-Israel rhetoric and even has ties to radical Islamic terrorists.
The Hind Rajab Foundation “focuses on doxing and launching legal cases against Israelis who have served in the [Israel Defense Forces]“, the Anti-Defamation League writes in its assessment of the group, noting that military service is mandatory in Israel.
Dyab Abou Jahjah, the organization’s chairman, has made multiple statement on social media over the years that NGO Monitor and the Anti-Defamation League have raised concerns over.
On Oct. 7, 2023, the day Hamas terrorists entered Israel and killed 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage, Abou Jahjah wrote on social media:
“These Palestinian resistance fighters entering these settlements are all refugees whose parents were ethnically cleansed from these villages in 1948/1967. Anyone neglecting this fact is not seriously engaging in a conversation but is spreading Israeli propaganda, whether willfully or not.”
A year later in October 2024, he called the modern “Hebrew language” a “Frankenstein of a language, hideous in its very essence, just like that illegitimate state whose official language it claims to be.”
The Hind Rajab Foundation’s executive also has known ties to Hezbollah. During an interview with The New York Times in 2003, Abou Jahjah, who grew up in Lebanon, said he joined Hezbollah as a teen and received some military training from the terrorist group, adding, “I’m still very proud of that.”
Romm, the organization’s U.S. representative, has also made antisemitic statements online, writing for Parapraxis Magazine in 2024 that “the Zionist has the atrocity they have always longed for, one which would give concrete form to their persecution fantasies and let loose their desire for murder: an annihilatory response masquerading as self-defense as genocidal violence often is.”
In a post on X on March 27, Romm wrote: “Hamas is the only group meaningfully working to return the hostages,” adding that the war between Israel and Hamas “would end tomorrow if Israel simply laid down its arms, exiled all its military and government leaders, and self abolished, but the “return the hostages now” crowd refuses to be sensible.”
NGO Monitor Vice President Olga Deutsch told The Daily Signal that it is “not enough to designate terror organizations.”
“In today’s world, terror groups routinely fundraise and operate across the West via affiliated organizations to get around these designations. To truly fight terror, the EU, Europol and others must recognize affiliate groups like Hind Rajab Foundation for what they are: terror fronts,” Deutsch said. “And they must empower local law enforcement agencies to take all necessary measures to crack down on them in tandem.”
