The New York Times has finally covered a story that has been sitting under its nose for years - the tax-exempt fund raising Israeli settlers are doing in the U.S. In an expansive article in today's paper, three reporters combine to tell a familiar story of how nonprofit organizations are raising money in the US to help build settlements and in some cases arm settlers themselves.
I say the story has been right until the Times's nose because so much of this story is a New York story. As we have been reporting on here for the past year and a half, the Central Fund of Israel, located in a fabric store on 36th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan just 6 blocks from the Times headquarters, has been one of the most important players in this story. The Times gives them their due, and even quotes their president Hadassah Marcus who explained, "We’re trying to build a land. . .All we’re doing is going back to our home.”
The article is huge, and the Times should be commended for running it.
Still the article obfuscates the story in some places. My biggest issue is that it totally ignores the widespread support these institutions enjoy in the Jewish community. The article says "donors to settlement charities represent a broad mix of Americans," but then focuses on the more religious or ideological ones. As we have shown the apparent Central Fund donor list includes James Tisch, the CEO of Loews; Michael Milken, the banker/philanthropist; and Alan C. (Ace) Greenberg, the former CEO of Bear Stearns (the whole list is here). To me this is an interesting story.
And it's not just about big names. The story says, "The settlements are a sensitive issue among American Jews themselves. Some major Jewish philanthropies, like the Jewish Federations of North America, generally do not support building activities in the West Bank." This is not true. A reader writes us:
I know this to be untrue, first by virtue of the JFNA's funneling American Jewish money to the Jewish Agency, which openly supports settlements. But some Federations sanction settlements directly, too: the SF Federation's endowment fund allows donations to settler groups.
The list of the San Francisco Federation's approved charities is here. Among the many settler organizations it includes are the American Friends of Ariel (a large settlement in the northern West Bank), American Friends of Bat Ayin Yeshiva (located in the Gush Etzion settlement block), and, not surprisingly, the Central Fund of Israel.
The Times makes it out that the American Jewish community is wringing its hands over this practice while the radicals raise the money. This is not the case. While I agree that the majority of American Jews might not support the settlements, the majority of the leadership of the American Jewish community does. The settlements have been a project of the American Jewish community as much as they have been Israel's project. The leaders of the community need to be called to account.
okay, step 1: msm finally decides to cover this
now we need step 2: editorials declaring such funding support for jewish settler terrorism and a push to make it illegal
it’s about time for this exposure.
jewish settler terrorism and a push to make it illegal
yep
>> jewish settler terrorism and a push to make it illegal
Well, now, that’s just “talking at” Israelis! Presumably the settlers – who most likely have been frightening themselves with horror stories handed down from “generation to generation” – are as “scared” as the soldiers from another thread, so the only thing to do is give them hugs and boxes of chocolates. Then, and only then, they might consider taking their boots off the necks of Palestinians and their settlements off Palestinian lands.
It’s a tough gig being an oppressor-victim… :-(
step 3: the mechanisms are already in place for Step 3: Stuart Levey & his Dept of Treasury office shall be instructed to impose US Treasury Dept restrictions on ANY BUSINESS that has any ties to funds sending money to jewish settler terror groups.
This IS a nation of laws and of equal justice, isn’t it, and Obama did just tell Bibi that US and Israel share values, didn’t he. so do it, Stuart: shut down Israeli terrorism support networks.
Adam, you’re painting with too broad a brush. Most of the organization mentioned in the article are limited to a right-wing fringe and do not enjoy mainstream support. Manhigut Yehudit is not mainstream. Neither is AFSI, Ateret Cohanim and the Hebron Fund. Most major Jewish NGO’s do not support settlement building, including the UJC, the biggest of them all. The ADL doesn’t. The AJC doesn’t. The federations do not. The organizations that do are nearly all affiliated with the Orthodox community, who represent 20 percent of the American Jewish community, and even they do not by and large support many of these organizations.
Most American Jews have no idea who David Ha’Ivri is and no idea who Moshe Feiglin is.
As far as the San Francisco Federation, it has an extremely long list of approved charities from all over the spectrum, and I think it at least as notable that the list includes B’Tselem and the New Israel Fund, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. It’s a little disingenuous to cherry pick from a list of literally thousands upon thousands of charities when you’re arguing that this is proof that such organizations enjoy the support of the “American Jewish community.”
I think you’re fooling yourself if you really believe the federations and ujc don’t support the settlements. If they support any aliyah program they’re supporting the settlements as Nefesh b’Nefesh is settling people in the West Bank with every trip. The ADL and AJC might not send money, but do plenty to prevent any meaningful criticism of or accountability for the colonization project. This contributes as well.
I think the SF federation is not the exception, but the rule. Also, it doesn’t matter how many charities are on that list, I was talking about sending money to support settlements and there were plenty more I could have posted. The issue isn’t how many charities are on there versus the others, it’s that they’re on there at all.
Well, again, your statement is that these organizations help build settlements. Now you’re defining that as pretty much anyone who does not make sure that not one penny goes to anything associated with a settlement. I don’t think asking American Jews to pretend like Jews in settlements don’t exist, particularly when most are secular people who will leave peacefully if there is an agreement is reasonable. Neither do I think it’s fair to lump in organizations that give money to settlements in blocs that most agree will remain part of Israel if there is a peace agreement with those who support far-flung settlement and hilltop youth. There is a big chasm between donating school supplies for poor Ethiopians who happen to be living just over the Green Line somewhere that will stay part of Israel in a land swap and giving money to militant settlers in Kiryat Arba to buy weapons.
It’s not accurate to claim that arming settlers is something most American Jews of American Jewish organizations support.
I’d like to know exactly what percentage of San Francisco Federation grants went to settlement-affiliated charities last year. That is the real question, not whether a charity appears on a list of 8000 approved charities that are eligible for grants.
“I don’t think asking American Jews to pretend like Jews in settlements don’t existparticularly when most are secular people who will leave peacefully if there is an agreement is reasonable.”
ROTFLMJAO! Yeah, cause that’s what secular Jews do, they move into illegal settlements in occupied territory! It’s what every secular Jewish parent tells their children: ‘Get good grades, stay out of trouble, and someday you could live in an illegal settlement. If you’re very lucky.’
“It’s not accurate to claim that arming settlers is something most American Jews of American Jewish organizations support.”
Wow! You got the point! Good for you, hophmila!
And wow, will they be pissed when they find out where their hard earned money is going.
That’s not where most of their money is going. That’s the point. The organizations who give money to the settlements are mostly on the right-wing fringe.
“donating school supplies for poor Ethiopians who happen to be living just over the Green Line somewhere”
Everybody is a comedian around here! I haven’t got a chance.
And BTW, it’s nice that Israel uses the Ethiopians as tethered goats. Goats are kosher, I think. And they make that famous feh! cheese from goat’s milk.
Yes, again, from the planet Earth: Most people in the settlements are secular and would leave if there was a peace agreement. They’re people who moved there for the tax break, not for the Messiah.
You want American Jews to essentially boycott every settler. I understand. I don’t believe that’s realistic or reasonable.
“They’re people who moved there for the tax break, not for the Messiah.”
So Israel gives people tax breaks to move into occupied territory, so they can act as bait for angry Palestinians? Now that’s a good policy! ‘Well, angry natives killed all the Jews in the settlement, but oh, such publicity we’ll get! Such sympathy!’
Or maybe the settlers will kill the Palestinians? And we pay them so much less than regular troops, such a bargain.
Gee, I just don’t see how we can ever hope to ameliorate Israel’s intransigence. They’re just way too smart for us.
American Muslims are legally forbidden to support Hamas, even in the most indirect way, at the risk of being prosecuted for terrorism. Why shouldn’t American Jews be legally forbidden from supporting the settlements, at the risk of being prosecuted for ethnic cleansing?
They’re prohibited from supporting Kahane Chai.
Make your case to the Treasury Department.
The ADL and AJC might not send money, but do plenty to prevent any meaningful criticism of or accountability for the colonization project. This contributes as well.
I would argue that’s the most significant contribution they make to the whole settlement enterprise, given their vast influence over policy decisions, the media and the Congress.
How convenient for these “broad mix of Americans,” as the NYT calls them, that their activities are met with indifference from the groups in power. And how telling that AIPAC even skirts the whole issue of settlements in its directives and policy statements.
The statement that “the settlements have been a project of the American Jewish community as much as they have been Israel’s project,” is truly profound to this matter. The American Jewish community has long been the enabler and the protector of these activities. The reason its leadership officially distances themselves from the settlements is simple: the settlements are easily the most indefensible, controversial and negative policy for Israel; therefore support for it is largely kept under wraps. For the purposes of Zionist advocacy, the settlements are a PR nightmare.
And I reckon that this NYT expose doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of the funding issue, for it doesn’t identify the elites who channel funds through other organizations, either private or public, people such as Lev Leviev.
“Adam, you’re painting with too broad a brush.”
It’s just a little settler terrorism. Supported from America. What’s the fuss? Who could it hurt?
No, the vast majority of American Jews have no idea who Feiglin in. He’s still a fringe figure, unknown outside of the Orthodox community. His whole deal is trying to undermine Likud from the inside. He’s tried for years, to no avail.
The NYT totally ignored the big fundraiser the Hebron Fund had at the ballpark, and that is certainly a terrorist support group that idolizes Baruch Goldstein.
Which people might remember when the Zionists start in with their usual cant about Palestinians naming streets. There is iirc a settlement named after the terrorist.
If not for Mondoweiss and other independent voices, I doubt The Times would have pursued this story.
i agree.
I agree with you Mr. North, now we need to push for illegality issue. Give it the same strict criminal code which was applied to Muslim charities, and the same zeal of enforcement.
Is it really so difficult to write “NYT” in a headline?
‘ho hum times’ would be more accurate and capture my attention more readily as well…
Ethan Bronner had a hand in this story?
New report about the settlement policy.
link to btselem.org
Bronner is listed as the “and” author of the story. I can’t help wondering what his influence was in the story, and in which ways he affected it, or what he contributed.
I think the coverage coming in from The Times is a product of:
1. The continual pressure of unofficial media like Mondoweiss and Juan Cole scooping them and making their journalists appear irrelevant and completely out of touch. By not covering the story, they are allowing others to control the message.
2. A gradual realisation that secular Jewish lives in the diaspora are really in danger long term. Who wants to allow a bunch of radicals in kippahs destroy the well-integrated and comfortable life of one’s family in America or France over a few hundred square kilometers of earth to which the Ashkenazis at least have only a theoretical tie?
What sensible person wants to go pointlessly through another Spanish inquisition or English exile or be sent out into the Pale?
Certainly not the editors and writers of The New York Times. If somebody doesn’t put some brakes on the Zionist enterprise, alas it appears that this is the way things are going.
The Times posted this because they are becoming illegitimate in the eyes of many. Now that they will charge for there news online, do you think people are going to buy into a propaganda paper that is completely pro-settler? It’s really shameful it’s taken them so long to produce the op-ed from Kristof last week that criticized the occupation.
Alec makes the point above, it’s the continual pressure of unofficial media that is making them change.
Its about 3 miles from ground zero to 36th and 6th. Will an inquiry be launched into how Mohamed Atta missed the target by 3 whole miles?
“the American Educational Trust, publisher of an Arab-oriented journal.” it almost sounds evil!!
Actually a great magazine called: “Washington Report on Middle East Affairs”.
American Educational Trust
“The American Educational Trust (AET) is a non-profit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC in 1982 by retired U.S. foreign service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. AET perceives a dearth in knowledge about the Middle East, Arabs, and Muslims, in the U.S., and pursues an educational mission of “Interpreting the Middle East for North Americans; Interpreting North America for the Middle East.”
link to washington-report.org