US Charities Illegally Funding Illegal Israeli Settlements

In a July 22, 2021 letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Reps. Tlaib, Bush, Carson, McCollum, Ocasio-Cortez, Pocan and Pressley demanded that Yellen investigate the illegal activities of pro-Israel charities in funding illegal Israeli settlements. See https://ccrjustice.org/reps-tlaib-ocasio-cortez-carson-betty-mccollum-pocan-pressley-and-bush-seek-treasury-dept

As stated in https://mondoweiss.net/2021/07/tlaib-progressive-house-members-want-biden-to-pull-tax-exempt-status-from-groups-funding-settlements/
7/26/21
"A 2015 Haaretz investigation found that U.S. charities spent $220 million funding Israeli settlements between 2009 and 2013. Tlaib’s letter specifically cites The Central Fund of Israel (CFI), a nonprofit registered in New York. In May The Intercept published a piece by Alex Kane looking at the relationship between groups like CFI and Israel’s settlement expansion."

The letter to Treasury states in pertinent part:

"Since Israeli forces occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in 1967, Israeli authorities have pursued an unlawful settlement enterprise in occupied territory—an aggressive policy of seizing lands either privately owned by, or collectively used by Palestinians, and allocating them for the use and enjoyment of Jewish Israelis. Israeli authorities utilize discriminatory housing, land, and property legal regimes and impermissible military justifications to dispossess Palestinians of their lands, or destroy Palestinian homes, property, and essential civilian infrastructure. Israeli authorities and private Israeli settler organizations in collaboration with Israeli authorities have established some 200 Jewish -only settlements that house over 600,000 Israeli citizens."

"The broader settlement enterprise to create and sustain illegal settlements, pursuant to Israel’s policy of settling its civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, is in direct contravention of international humanitarian law. This was reaffirmed by an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice in 20042 as well as UN Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted on December 23, 2016, which reiterates previous Security Council resolutions calling on Israel to cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."

"The United States government, as a party to the Fourth Geneva Convention and under customary international law, has a duty to not encourage or recognize violations of international humanitarian law or peremptory norms and must also act to end violations of international humanitarian law. The United States government’s obligation prohibits not only explicit recognition of an illegal situation but also extends to actions that would simply imply recognition."

"Tax-exempt nonprofit status allows U.S.-based 501(c)(3) entities and their U.S.-based donors to receive an effective subsidy from the U.S. government to support serious breaches of international law and violations of internationally recognized human rights related to the expansion of the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise. Granting and sustaining 501(c)(3) status recognizes and supports this unlawful conduct that is contrary to existing U.S. obligations under international law and established U.S. public policy."

"CFI, however, is not alone in benefitting from U.S. tax exempt 501(c)(3) status to bolster illegal Israeli settlements and other violations of international law. From 2009 to 2013, U.S. charities reportedly funneled over $220 million to Israeli settler organizations, according to a 2015 Haaretz investigation. These organizations include American Friends of Beit El, a foundation headed by former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman that raised tens of millions of dollars for one of the most prominent, illegal settlements in the West Bank;8 extreme far-right groups like Qomemiyut, which advocated for the destruction of Gaza; the Hebron Fund, which is dedicated to supporting Israeli settlers and soldiers in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron by “keeping Hebron in Jewish Hands” and strengthening the security apparatus of settlements;10 and likely hundreds of other organizations fueling the displacement of Palestinians."

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The name of the game is money and the American military base called Israel receives $4 billion from US taxpayers annually directly and all kinds of other benefits such as the above-described illegal tax exempt charitable contributions, all courtesy both the Democrats and Republicans together, with very few exceptions who are the fig leaf over the shameful reality of the Democrat-Republican support of racist, apartheid, parasitic Israel. This is certainly a milestone to even question these tax exempt charities. The letter set an August 22, 2021 deadline, so perhaps we can look forward to a lawsuit from the Center for Constitutional Rights on whose website this letter is.