Israel bars entry to 40 activists from human rights group with known ties to Hamas

Israel barred the entry of 40 activists from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor NGO, on recommendation from the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry, over ties to the Hamas terror organization. 

The Diaspora Affairs Ministry recently drew attention to the connections between Euro-Med’s founder and chairman, Ramy Abdu, and Hamas, following the release of the New York Times opinion piece alleging Israeli sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners. 

The entry ban includes Abdu, along with senior officials, board members and staff, including lower-level employees. 

“After we revealed the true identity of the Euro-Med organization, which uses the cover of ‘human rights’ to promote terrorist activity, I ordered the Director General of my ministry, Avi Cohen-Scali, to prevent the organization's forty activists from entering Israel,” Minister Amichai Chikli said.

“The days when it was possible to exploit the cover of humanitarianism to promote terrorism are over. We will continue to expose, thwart and act against any entity acting against the State of Israel, regardless of the name behind which it chooses to hide,” he continued.

The accusation against Euro-Med by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry is not new. Euro-Med and Abdu have faced accusations for years by the Israeli government and Israeli activists of personal and financial ties to Hamas. 

Abdu was mentioned in a 2011 publication by The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, which noted his role as campaign coordinator for The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG). That organization led a delegation of Muslim and leftist activists to Gaza later that year, in which they met with senior Hamas figures, including then Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. 

Update: We now have ANOTHER of Ramy Abdu's relatives who was part of Hamas.

The EuroMed chief, based in Turkey, already admitted his brother-in-law was Muhammad Daoud al-Jammasi — the senior Hamas political commander who simultaneously served as a high-ranking UNRWA official for… https://t.co/tNB48IQ8eD pic.twitter.com/M0xhXeSBw0

— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) May 23, 2026

In 2013, Abdu appeared on a list from the Ministry of Defense that identified a group of people and institutions described as part of a network or association variously known as the “Hamas Department in Europe,” “Hamas Headquarters in Europe,” or “Hamas Office in Europe.” 

In the same year, the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR) and PALThink organized an event., “Hamas Movement within the International Context,” featuring Hamas leader Osama Hamdan. At the event, Abdu, then CEPR’s Palestine Office Manager in Gaza, sat next to Hamdan and was also a keynote speaker. 

Abdu was the subject of an Israeli administrative detention order issued in 2020 under Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Law over alleged activities with the group “IPalestine,” which had been designated by the government as a Hamas-affiliate. 

The NGO watchdog NGO Monitor describes Euro-Med as “an ideological advocacy NGO led by Palestinians alleged by Israel to be linked to Hamas.” 

Here is the “martyr” poster of Ramy’s nephew. He died exactly two years after “joining his comrades” pic.twitter.com/esjcl5MDKN

— Leslie Kajomovitz (@kikas6652) May 23, 2026

It further notes that Euro-Med “uses the facade of human rights and focuses primarily on demonizing Israel, with no publicly available information on its budget or funding sources. The repeated allegations directed at Israel, including accusations of ‘organ theft,’ as well as ‘genocide,’ ‘ethnic cleansing,’ ‘collective punishment,’ are not supported by evidence.” 

Abdu himself has been personally linked to various Hamas members, including family members accused of helping raise funds for Hamas. 

His nephew was even listed as a “martyr” by Hamas, dying in the Gaza war while fighting against the IDF. 

Chair of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor Ramy Abdu left out that his “sister’s beloved partner” was also a senior Hamas member. pic.twitter.com/Ipa8R3I0uY

— NGO Monitor (@NGOmonitor) March 19, 2025

Additionally, in a post in Arabic, he admitted that his brother-in-law, Mohammed Daoud al-Jamasi, was a senior Hamas leader. 

Israeli-American writer and open source intelligence investigator Eitan Fischberger, posted to his 𝕏 account that Euro-Med Monitor was actually formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Israeli government in 2015, noting that the designation was done under the group’s previous name: EUROMID OBSERVER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. 

SCOOP: I've discovered that Euro-Med Monitor has actually been formally designated as a terrorist organization by Israel — since 2015.
And nobody realized.

Not journalists. Not myself. Not even the Israeli Diaspora Ministry, which published a detailed report on Euro-Med just… pic.twitter.com/zMmsuFNcqX

— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) May 26, 2026

Later that same year, the organization changed its name to its current name. Fischberger argues that “under Section 101 of Israel's 2016 Counter-Terrorism Law, that designation was automatically converted into a permanent terrorist designation, with no additional process required.”