Intelligence agencies often face complex challenges regarding meetings between parliament members and individuals from organizations labeled as terrorist groups. This issue has become particularly relevant following revelations that former member of the Danish political party Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten), Christian Juhl, met multiple times with leaders from the Palestinian organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Between 2012 and 2020, Juhl hosted meetings, including at the Danish Parliament (Christiansborg), with prominent PFLP members, such as Khaled Barakat and Abla Sa’adat. At that time, Sa’adat was married to Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned general secretary of the PFLP. According to Hans Jørgen Bonnichsen, former operational chief of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET), intelligence services should act when such situations arise. Bonnichsen states that the standard procedure would be to have a preventive conversation with the relevant politician. “They would be informed that the person they are meeting with is suspected of being involved in a terrorist organization,” he explains. Subsequently, it would be up to the politician to decide whether to continue the meetings.

Furthermore, Bonnichsen mentions that, in some instances, PET could utilize these meetings to gather intelligence. “One could suggest to the individual that they could serve as our agent and investigate what their intentions are,” he adds.

One of the meetings that has attracted particular attention was with Mohammed Khatib, a figure associated with the organization Samidoun, which allegedly raises funds for the PFLP. Several international sources and Israeli intelligence also assert that Khatib is a member of the PFLP.

Currently, B.T., a Danish news outlet, is seeking a statement from PET regarding whether they were aware of Juhl’s meetings. Additionally, there is a call for responses from Juhl himself about whether he was ever contacted by PET regarding these meetings.

The PFLP has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States since 1997 and was added to the European Union’s list in 2012. The organization is responsible for several horrific terrorist acts, including hijackings and suicide bombings, with the most recent attack targeting Israel occurring last year.