U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Years

Private U.S. donors are massively funding Israeli settlements by using a network of tax-exempt nonprofits, which funnelled more than $220 million (about 850 million shekels) to Jewish communities in the West Bank in 2009-2013 alone, a Haaretz investigation has found.
The funding is being used for anything from buying air conditioners to supporting the families of convicted Jewish terrorists, and comes from tax-deductible donations made to around 50 U.S.-based groups.

Thanks to their status as nonprofits, these organizations are not taxed on their income and donations made to them are tax deductible – meaning the U.S. government is incentivizing and indirectly supporting the Israeli settlement movement, even though it has been consistently opposed by every U.S. administration for the past 48 years.

The findings also show that while Israel’s political right often criticizes left-wing organizations for receiving foreign donations – and has made several attempts to curtail such funding – groups that support the settlements also receive extensive funding from abroad, albeit from different sources.

While left-wing NGOs and human rights groups receive large donations from foreign governments and institutions, Israeli settlement groups are mostly supported by private individuals who donate through nonprofit organizations.

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Read more @: Haaretz Investigation: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over Five Years

I would most definitely call these groups that are funding these illegal settlement activities in the West Bank a huge obstacle to peace. Basically extremists from America are funding/funneling money to extremists in Israel that mainly live on illegal settlements in the West Bank. These funds are used for anything from expanding the settlements, legal activities, and political campaigning. This needs to end, and is a huge obstacle to peace.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

TheDemSocialist said:

Read more @: Haaretz Investigation: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over Five Years

I would most definitely call these groups that are funding these illegal settlement activities in the West Bank a huge obstacle to peace. Basically extremists from America are funding/funneling money to extremists in Israel that mainly live on illegal settlements in the West Bank. These funds are used for anything from expanding the settlements, legal activities, and political campaigning. This needs to end, and is a huge obstacle to peace.

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Since you bring up the subject, what's the figure for US non-profits donations to the Palestinians and less openly, Hamas sympathizers?

Since you are in favour of ending one, are you in favour of ending the other?

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

CanadaJohn said:

Since you bring up the subject, what's the figure for US non-profits donations to the Palestinians and less openly, Hamas sympathizers?

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The difference between US charities funding illegal settlement activity and Jewish extremist groups and US charities found to be funding Hamas actives is that the ones funding Hamas are shut down. Example is the Holy Land Foundation.

Since you are in favour of ending one, are you in favour of ending the other?

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If they are found to be funding extremist activities, yes. Are you?

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

TheDemSocialist said:

The difference between US charities funding illegal settlement activity and Jewish extremist groups and US charities found to be funding Hamas actives is that the ones funding Hamas are shut down. Example is the Holy Land Foundation.


If they are found to be funding extremist activities, yes. Are you?

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Yes, I am. I know, here in Canada, we have identified certain groups such as Hamas who are banned from receiving charitable donations from non-profits and charities in Canada and if any are found to have done so, they have their charitable status rescinded. I'm not aware of any similar designation related to Israelis in the West Bank. Has the American government designated such Israelis as illegal for receipt of charitable donations? If not, why should they be banned from receiving such donations?

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

CanadaJohn said:

Has the American government designated such Israelis as illegal for receipt of charitable donations?

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Nope.

If not, why should they be banned from receiving such donations?

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Because of the several reasons/examples laid out in the article.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

While left-wing NGOs and human rights groups receive large donations from foreign governments and institutions, Israeli settlement groups are mostly supported by private individuals who donate through nonprofit organizations.

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There you go, Ha'aretz answer their own question about what is the difference between far-left organizations that receive funding from abroad and settler organizations. These organizations are funded by foreign governments and institutions, the settlers are funded by private donors.

Also, this is an Ha'aretz "investigation", so it all should be taken with a grain of salt.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

Apocalypse said:

There you go, Ha'aretz answer their own question about what is the difference between far-left organizations that receive funding from abroad and settler organizations. These organizations are funded by foreign governments and institutions, the settlers are funded by private donors.

Also, this is an Ha'aretz "investigation", so it all should be taken with a grain of salt.

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And the fact that people who don't live here, some not even citizens, fund an activity which is actually basing facts on the ground for a political agenda which have serious consequences on people who actually live here is ok? Do they send their children to the army to guard those settlements?

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

ido_ said:

And the fact that people who don't live here, some not even citizens, fund an activity which is actually basing facts on the ground for a political agenda which have serious consequences on people who actually live here is ok? Do they send their children to the army to guard those settlements?

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They're private donors, they can do whatever they want to and as long as they don't fund terror activities you can't stop them from using their money.
When it's a foreign government that funds a political organization within the country, that's when things become very wrong and that's when the law should step in.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

Apocalypse said:

They're private donors, they can do whatever they want to and as long as they don't fund terror activities you can't stop them from using their money.
When it's a foreign government that funds a political organization within the country, that's when things become very wrong and that's when the law should step in.

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Oh please, if an Arab billioner from Qatar started purchasing lands and properties ib Israel to settle Arabs, I'm pretty sure the legistlators in the right wing would have outcried against it and come up with a law to block this activity.
Foreign money which is promoting a political agenda, no matter which agenda, and no matter if private or public is simply wrong.

Those people dont live with the outcome of the agenda they promote

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

ido_ said:

Oh please, if an Arab billioner from Qatar started purchasing lands and properties ib Israel to settle Arabs, I'm pretty sure the legistlators in the right wing would have outcried against it and come up with a law to block this activity.
Foreign money which is promoting a political agenda, no matter which agenda, and no matter if private or public is simply wrong.

Those people dont live with the outcome of the agenda they promote

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Arabs cannot 'be settled' in Israel, there is a citizenship law. There are already donors from Qatar giving money to Arab citizens of Israel to promote their political positions and it's completely fine as long as they're private. (And in most cases they aren't) The settlements project are an Israeli political agenda, and unlike the far-left organizations promoted by foreign governments they don't use foreign money to deligitimize Israel and its right to exist. There is also a huge difference, no matter how much you'll argue against it, between foreign private donors and foreign governments donating money to political organizations within the state. This is a violation of the state's sovereignity. These private donors on the other hand are promoting their own agenda, you're more than welcomed to see these donations as immoral and disturbing, but as I was saying they are private donors, it's their money, and many of them happen to do good things with that money as well through Friends of IDF, JNF and other organizations.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

Apocalypse said:

Arabs cannot 'be settled' in Israel, there is a citizenship law. There are already donors from Qatar giving money to Arab citizens of Israel to promote their political positions and it's completely fine as long as they're private. (And in most cases they aren't) The settlements project are an Israeli political agenda, and unlike the far-left organizations promoted by foreign governments they don't use foreign money to deligitimize Israel and its right to exist. There is also a huge difference, no matter how much you'll argue against it, between foreign private donors and foreign governments donating money to political organizations within the state. This is a violation of the state's sovereignity. These private donors on the other hand are promoting their own agenda, you're more than welcomed to see these donations as immoral and disturbing, but as I was saying they are private donors, it's their money, and many of them happen to do good things with that money as well through Friends of IDF, JNF and other organizations.

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I didnt say there is no difference. I said both are wrong. People who dont live here shouldnt be allowed to promote a political agenda, any agenda. And I'm not talking only about settlments or groups which delegitimate Israel. First of all it should be politicians and their elections campaigns

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

ido_ said:

I didnt say there is no difference. I said both are wrong. People who dont live here shouldnt be allowed to promote a political agenda, any agenda. And I'm not talking only about settlments or groups which delegitimate Israel. First of all it should be politicians and their elections campaigns

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Hey I have just as much problems with Netanyahu receiving most of his campaign money from US private donors, but the law allows it and has been allowing it for as long as I can remember and it's not like he invented that shtick. Israel is in a unique position among the nations in that it has a very strong connection with millions of inidviduals who are not citizens of the state, it's a slippery slope but it's always been so, from the very start, and without the aid of these people I think we'd be living in a far less prosperous nation.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

Not only Netanyahu recieves donations from the US. Almost all of them does, and its all wrong.
I dont agree with the position that because those people are jews its ok, its not. If those Jews want to make a difference they can make aliyah and vote. Its not ok for people who dont live here dictate how we should live here.

BTW, maybe you missed it but a week ago this exact topic was on the media agenda. So, yea its been going on like this for about 30 years but there were a few attempts to change it which failed

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

ido_ said:

Oh please, if an Arab billioner from Qatar started purchasing lands and properties ib Israel to settle Arabs, I'm pretty sure the legistlators in the right wing would have outcried against it and come up with a law to block this activity.
Foreign money which is promoting a political agenda, no matter which agenda, and no matter if private or public is simply wrong.

Those people dont live with the outcome of the agenda they promote

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Ido and Apoc,

Do we need to distinguish between folks that donate to find activities in Jerusalem and established consensus settlements along the seam line vs those that find efforts at expansion?

Not sure there is such a distinction, but those that, for example, fund archaeological activity in Jerusalem seem less objectionable than those that fund efforts to set up illegal "hilltop settlements". Cause would seem like that would be funding of illegal activity.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

CJ 2.0 said:

Ido and Apoc,

Do we need to distinguish between folks that donate to find activities in Jerusalem and established consensus settlements along the seam line vs those that find efforts at expansion?

Not sure there is such a distinction, but those that, for example, fund archaeological activity in Jerusalem seem less objectionable than those that fund efforts to set up illegal "hilltop settlements". Cause would seem like that would be funding of illegal activity.

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I'm not sure I understand you CJ, if the activity they're funding is illegal then the activity itself would be prohibited.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

Apocalypse said:

I'm not sure I understand you CJ, if the activity they're funding is illegal then the activity itself would be prohibited.

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that's what I would have thought.

So if funding is not going into "hilltop settlements", which are illegal outposts, but are instead going into Jerusalem and the Jewish communities that everyone knows will remain part of Israel, I don't really see what the issue is. Donating to Jewish schools east of the green line or funding archaeological digs in Jerusalem or funding relief for the poor or security guards for seam line communities can't really be demonized the way Haaretz and the original poster here would like.

They are trying to paint all of thsoe donations as going to efforts to expand Jewish control over territories and displace Palestinians, but if that is not the reality that would seem to be the answer.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

CJ 2.0 said:

that's what I would have thought.

So if funding is not going into "hilltop settlements", which are illegal outposts, but are instead going into Jerusalem and the Jewish communities that everyone knows will remain part of Israel, I don't really see what the issue is. Donating to Jewish schools east of the green line or funding archaeological digs in Jerusalem or funding relief for the poor or security guards for seam line communities can't really be demonized the way Haaretz and the original poster here would like.

They are trying to paint all of thsoe donations as going to efforts to expand Jewish control over territories and displace Palestinians, but if that is not the reality that would seem to be the answer.

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Well as I stated in my first post in this thread everything that is said in the OP should be taken with a grain of salt, seeing this is Ha'aretz we're talking about - the newspaper representing the radical far-left in Israel. Their "investigations" tend to reach the results that they want them to reach.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

CJ 2.0 said:

that's what I would have thought.

So if funding is not going into "hilltop settlements", which are illegal outposts, but are instead going into Jerusalem and the Jewish communities that everyone knows will remain part of Israel, I don't really see what the issue is. Donating to Jewish schools east of the green line or funding archaeological digs in Jerusalem or funding relief for the poor or security guards for seam line communities can't really be demonized the way Haaretz and the original poster here would like.

They are trying to paint all of thsoe donations as going to efforts to expand Jewish control over territories and displace Palestinians, but if that is not the reality that would seem to be the answer.

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CJ you are missing the point. The activity of radical left organization is also legal, it doesnt matter if the activity is legal or not it is an activity which promotes a certain political agenda, I find it wrong.
Spill your money to promote your dangerous agenda, purchase a building in the middle of Shich Jarach, bring some ideologists to house it and pay for their security and let the Israelis get stabbed by angry palestinians.
I cant find it acceptable that foriegn money should affect my personal security and set political facts on ground. I also cant find it acceptable that forign money helps politicians in primary elections and parties in the knesset ellections.

Re: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over 5 Ye

ido_ said:

CJ you are missing the point. The activity of radical left organization is also legal, it doesnt matter if the activity is legal or not it is an activity which promotes a certain political agenda, I find it wrong.
Spill your money to promote your dangerous agenda, purchase a building in the middle of Shich Jarach, bring some ideologists to house it and pay for their security and let the Israelis get stabbed by angry palestinians.
I cant find it acceptable that foriegn money should affect my personal security and set political facts on ground. I also cant find it acceptable that forign money helps politicians in primary elections and parties in the knesset ellections.

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I understand your concern and I also would have an issue with it if this was going on in my country. You want your politics to be driven by the concerns of citizens.

But does that extend to strings-free donations to various charities and institutions, e.g., foreign donations to Hebrew University? The question then seems to be if there is a way to wholly divorce politics from certain donations (archaeological funding in Jerusalem, poverty support in west bank communities, etc) and whether those kinds of donations, in and of themselves, are necessarily an issue. And then of course there is the clear-cut donations that are inherently political, as you suggest.

And none of this is for me to take a position on, since I don't really have a view on what the right level of openness to assistance is. I know there have been longstanding funding activities going on in Canada since well before I was born (we used to give to the UJA box for tree planting every Friday in primary school) and I have been to lots of charitable events for various Israeli causes (Hebrew University, Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind, and so on).

I also would expect some folks believe their funding entitles them to some impact on policy (the line of thinking which goes since we in whatever country do so much to protect Israel through x funding, we are perfectly justified in telling the elected Israeli government that they are doing everything wrong). We see that on both left and right, which I think speaks to your broader concern about foreign money coming into all sides of your politics. And some of this is moral and comes from the complex relationship between non-Israeli Jews and Israel. Different people have different ideas about what moral direction of Israel is "acceptable" to them (some only believe Israel can be moral while putting its citizens at risk for "peace", while others believe Israel can only be moral while settling all of Judea and Samaria and fullfilling whatever destiny is set out in the bible, as per their own interpretation of it). And the self-perception of non-Israeli Jews and non-Israeli Jewish communities is impacted by Israel, its standing and its conduct.

Also, some non-Israeli Jews would turn around and argue that your concern about foreign influence affecting their security is actually their concern in reverse. You don't like that foreign money puts you at risk, while as you know Jews all over the world see higher risks whenever Israel's enemies get their panties in a bunch, which is triggered every time Israel has the termity to actually fight back against the murder of its citizens. So at a certain level there is a much deeper symbiosis between non-Israeli Jews and Israel's fate that is much more complex than, say, with the Irish. The fate of the Irish community in Canada or Europe or Australia is not really impacted on by the behaviour of the country of Ireland. As you know that's not true when it comes to the Jews.

Now I for one think it is important for Jews outside of Israel to try to protect and advocate for and support the country, but ultimately the purpose is to create a space where Jews in Israel can chart their course on their own (which is the purpose of zionism, after all) rather than only creating space for the purpose of causing Israel to go down a specific path of my choosing. But I do recognize this is a much more complex issue for Israel given its historical relationship with world Jewry and the deep inter-connection between communities, than you may be suggesting in your comments.

That's it. Rambling over. Happy Channukah

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