Salah Hamouri, who did time in Israeli prison for planning to assassinate former Israeli Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, was invited to Brussels for “a series of meetings at the European Parliament and European institutions.”

By JNS

The European Union’s Middle East peace envoy recently met with Salah Hamouri, a French-Palestinian terrorist who once pleaded guilty to a failed plot to murder a former chief rabbi of Israel, Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor reported on Monday.

The meeting in Brussels between E.U. Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Sven Koopmans and Hamouri reportedly took place on Sept. 7 and was first publicized by the Freedom for Salah Hamouri action group.

According to NGO Monitor, Hamouri was invited to Brussels for “a series of meetings at the European Parliament and European institutions.” In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Hamouri thanked Koopmans for his “hospitality and meaningful dialogue.”

“What’s wrong with this picture? Sven Koopmans—the E.U. envoy for Mideast peace—is pictured with former Addameer employee Salah Hamouri. Hamouria—a PFLP member—was convicted of plotting to assassinate Rabbi Ovadia Yosef,” tweeted NGO Monitor.

Hamouri has served prison time for his ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the E.U. has designated a terrorist organization. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to planning the assassination of Rabbi Yosef, but was released three years later in the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap.

The convicted terrorist subsequently found employment as a lawyer at Addameer, a PFLP-linked NGO that Israel designated a terror group in Oct. 2021. While Hamouri has denied being part of the PFLP, the Marxist terror group last year confirmed his membership.

“This is a prominent example of the links between European officials and officials of the PFLP terror group’s NGO network,” Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, told JNS. “The NGO cover gives terror operatives legitimacy, access to funds and influence,” he added.

NGO Monitor shared a picture of Hamouri standing arm-in-arm with arch-terrorists Ahmad Sa’adat, Samir Kuntar and Marwan Barghouti.

Born to a French mother and a Palestinian father in Kafr Aqab, a neighborhood in northeastern Jerusalem, Hamouri retains French citizenship. Israel revoked his Jerusalem residency permit last December, citing suspicions of continued involvement in terrorist activities.

“Today, in good time, the law has been implemented against the terrorist Saleh Hamouri and he was evicted from Israel,” Israel’s then-interior minister Ayelet Shaked said at the time.

“This has been a lengthy procedure and it is a major achievement; a moment before ending my term I was able to lead to his eviction using the tools at my disposal and to promote the fight against terrorism,” Shaked added. “I hope that the incoming government continues this policy and evicts terrorists from Israel.”