One of the fervid Jewish settlers who was evicted from that disputed house in Hebron last week, Nadia Matar, has sent out a defiant email: "There is no doubt, the more violence they use against us, the more it proves how scared they are of the new generation of proud Jews that is emerging in Judea and Samaria in particular and all over Israel in general. A new generation that is not scared to declare: 'The Land of Israel was given by G-d to the People of Israel and no one has the right to give it away'." Then Matar asked for money:
U.S. dollar checks are tax deductible only if they are made out to the "Central Fund for Israel". They may be mailed to... Central Fund for Israel, 980 Sixth Ave., 3rd. Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. You must advise the Central Fund for Israel that the donation is intended for Women In Green by earmarking the check "Women in Green" [an organization of settlers]
That address belongs to Marcus Brothers Textiles, Inc. Jay Marcus, a settler in Efrat, is listed as the administrator of the Central Fund. A pro-Israel website lists the Central Fund/Jay Marcus and then directs Jews to "browse" settlement communities to figure out to whom they wish to earmark their Central Fund contribution. Jay's father Arthur Marcus lives on the Upper West Side and he is the vice president of the Central Fund. Hadassah Marcus, who shares Arthur's address, is the president.
Weiss called Marcus Fabrics and asked to talk to the Central Fund. "You want Arthur," the woman answering the phone said, and put me through. Arthur Marcus said: "There is no connection to Marcus Fabrics except that I get paid by Marcus. The Central Fund has no overhead at all... Central Fund exists. It has for years. We do our thing."
Arthur Marcus is deadset against the two-state solution. "Any Palestinian state is going to be a mortal threat to the state of Israel."
According to guidestar.org, Central Fund is a 501c3 tax-deductible charity. The latest government form filled out by Arthur Marcus (and filed in 2006) lists the 6th Avenue address as its address and states that Central Fund took in and spent about $8 million that year. The money went to "support of religious institutions... construction and maintenance of synagogues," building schools, and chiefly, humanitarian aid to individuals "well below the poverty line."
Also: "Security program." Arthur wrote: "With security a constant problem, this category runs the gamut from providing firefighting equipment to providing a fence around a baseball field." Central Fund's 2005 form lists "contributions to try to answer urgent security needs," at the cost of nearly $300,000. The 2004 form uses that same language: answering "urgent security needs."
In the interview, Marcus said the "Marcus brothers" were an earlier generation. He said he and his son Jay Marcus both "work for Marcus brothers... and we can service the Israeli charities that don't have their own American tax-deductible status" but are trying to get it. He is able to get the money over to the West Bank with minimal amounts taken out. Indeed, the government forms say that Arthur Marcus and his wife Hadassah both spend 20 hours a week, without pay, on the Central Fund, and pay all postage and overhead themselves, while Jay spends 35 hours a week on the effort in Efrat (even as he's working for the fabric store!).
Here's the Marcus Brothers Fabric company's list of charities website. It mentions lots of causes, from breast cancer to quilts for sick kids. Doesn't mention supporting illegal settlements in the West Bank. Just think what these settlements are doing to the lives of Palestinians, let alone the future of two states in historical Palestine. And then there's the double standard of how Arab, Muslim and Palestinian charities are treated. The most glaring case being the Holy Land Foundation, the largest Islamic charity in the U.S., aimed at relieving suffering in the West Bank, which has been completely shut down because of alleged ties to Hamas.
--Phil Weiss and Adam Horowitz
Thank you for this report.
When I read 'urgent security needs', I immediately thought of settler militia rifles.
Tax deduction? Nice extra way to funnel US taxpayer money to the illegal settlers in a foreign land, especially since the official US policy is totally against the settlers.
Not to worry, especially since the current USA bailout of Wall Street (trickle down, anyone? LOL, since the money is being used for mergers and overseas loans).
It cost the USA 3.6 trillion in today's dollars to win WW2. That is the only expense in US History that even starts to approach the amounts the USA government is now pledging to save the USA economy.
Scale anyone?
TARP 's 700 billion Is just part of the current 8.5 trillion USA taxpayer exposure.
Consider the context general of unconditional and interest free foreign aid to Israel (and to Egypt and Jordan (not interest free) so long as they play nice with Israel)
.
Too bad President-Elect Obama didn't make US Attorney Fitzgerald his Attorney General. If anyone would apply the law equally to all people, it would be him. These people are clearly criminals, committing felony abuse of our tax code. This kind of egregious double standard and brazen (successful) defiance of our laws just adds fuel to the fire for the conspiracy theorists.
Tax deduction? On what effing basis?
And then taxpayers are going to cough up 3-10 billion this January in cash with no deliverables required to Israel at the end of January?
Will we see senatorial outrage like we saw with the auto companies when this dough is sent overseas in the new year?
=======================
COLIN:
This kind of egregious double standard and brazen (successful) defiance of our laws just adds fuel to the fire for the conspiracy theorists.
Conspiracy theorists? How about regular hurting taxpayers?
Im Tirtzu is a moderate centrist extra-parliamentary movement that engages in on-campus Zionist advocacy, in an effort to strengthen the values of Zionism in Israel, with the aim of securing the future of the Jewish people and the State of Israel and advancing Israeli society in its struggle to overcome the challenges it is currently facing. Your US checks are tax-deductible if made to The Central Fund For Israel as Phil details above.
Clearly a double standard at issue on Charities aiding Israelis and those aiding Palestinians. This Holy Land Foundation stinks to high heaven, especially if you google all the Charity recipients helping Israelis both directly with official tax deductible US dollars and those going the ropes of The Central Fund.
link to en.wikipedia.org