JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is calling on the European Union to halt funding to more than a dozen European and Palestinian non-governmental organizations that it says promote boycotts against Israel.

Israel says the financial support violates the EU's stated policy that the bloc opposes boycotts against the Jewish state.

In a report Friday, Israel's Strategic Affairs Ministry said some of the groups have links to militant groups.

Israel has been battling a global movement calling for boycotts, divestment and sanctions over of its treatment of the Palestinians.

Supporters of the movement say the tactics are a nonviolent way to promote the Palestinian cause. Israel says the campaign goes beyond fighting its occupation of territory Palestinians claim for their state and often masks a more far-reaching aim to delegitimize or destroy the Jewish state.