Israeli settler support infrastructure here in the U.S.A.

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Last year, the Israeli government forcibly displaced over 1,032 Palestinians from their homes. In just the first three months of 2023, 400 Palestinians have been forced out of their homes by the Israeli government.

THE CRISIS

In March 2023, hundreds of Israeli settlers rampaged towns in the West Bank, setting them ablaze, burning homes, cars and ambulances to the ground, with the backing of the Israeli government. This is just one prominent incident within a massive settlement enterprise terrorizing the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – forcibly expelling thousands of families from their generational homes and lands in order to expand illegal Jewish-only settlements. These settlements play an important role in entrenching Israel’s apartheid rule over millions of Palestinians who are forced to live in enclaves surrounded by checkpoints and with a separate set of rules and rights based on their ethnicity.

HOW THE CRISIS CONNECTS TO US

While it may feel far away, many of the settlers who participate in the harassment or expulsion of Palestinians are actually funded by organizations here in New York State. Despite being in direct violation of international human rights laws, these organizations masquerade as charities, funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to ethnic cleansing. By allowing them non-profit status, New York State is effectively subsidizing these atrocities.

We must refuse this charade and end charitable funding of human rights violations overseas.

There are a number of organizations in New York State that participate in this charade. These organizations include the Central Fund of Israel (CFI), Friends of Ir David, and American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, the One Israel Fund, and the Israel Independence Fund. CFI is the largest identifiable organization and has nearly doubled in size over the last two years. Today it sends almost 50 million dollars annually to Israel and its illegal settlements. Read more about these organizations here.

It’s within our power to put an end to this financing of apartheid. Join us in uplifting the Not on Our Dime!: End NY Funding of Israeli Settler Violence campaign to ensure not another dollar is spent on expelling Palestinians from their homes and dispossessing them of their lands.

THE LEGISLATION

The bill (A6943/S6992), held by Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani and Senator Jabari Brisport, clarifies that funding Israeli settlement activity and any violations of the international treaties signed at Geneva on August 12, 1949 by NYS charities is illegal. As such, it prohibits NY-based non-profit corporations from abusing their non-profit status to reinforce and further Israel’s illegal and inhumane settlement expansion.

The legislation also bolsters enforcement of violations of these prohibitions: it allows the Attorney General to fine those organizations that knowingly fund settlements a sum no less than 1 million dollars, and explicitly empowers Palestinians who have been harmed by the settler violence funded by these New York-based charities to seek a civil action against them.

Overall, this legislation makes clear that New Yorkers do not support violations of international law. By explicitly naming Israeli settlements, and the war crimes that they entail, this legislation signals New Yorkers’ values, and directs enforcement priorities. This would be a first under New York law.

WHO WE ARE

We are a group of individuals and organizations who feel strongly that our state should not be complicit in apartheid. For decades, Palestinians have called on people internationally to identify the various ways their jurisdictions are financially supporting Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian land, and end them. They have specifically identified money that flows directly from U.S. foundations to settler groups involved in their expulsion. New Yorkers heeded this call and launched Not on Our Dime!

Armed US citizen spotted in confrontations between Jewish settlers and Armenians has ties to Jerusalem’s Deputy Mayor Arieh King and the Israel Land Fund, a group whose mission is to settle Jews in occupied East Jerusalem.

Among around 15 individuals, some of whom brought weapons and dogs, was Saadia Hershkop, an American Jewish settler with ties to Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s minister of national security. It is unclear whether all the persons on site were members of settlers organisations.

The New Arab (TNA) Investigative Unit has identified another US citizen, Sam Goodman, present at the confrontations of November 4-5. He hails from Jacksonville in Florida, and has a seven-year-long history of involvement in the eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem. He also goes by the name Tzvi Goodman.

Goodman has ties to current Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King and the Israel Land Fund, a charity founded by King in 2004 to settle Jews in East Jerusalem. Israeli newspaper Haaretz described King as a “right-wing Jerusalem settler activist” at the time of his appointment as deputy mayor back in April 2020.

Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City, are a violation of international law, as the area falls under Palestinian Authority (PA) jurisdiction. The controversial Armenian land lease consequently alarmed not only Armenians but also Palestinian Arabs because of its political implications

The land of the Armenian Quarter is especially strategic as it intersects the main access roads between West Jerusalem and the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, making it “prime real estate in Israeli eyes”.

Many within the Armenian community have pointed at an Israeli organisation called Ateret Cohanim to be allegedly behind the controversial land deal.

Ateret Cohanim is one of the main settler organisations engaged in buying up properties in East Jerusalem, with the goal of settling Jewish residents in them. It is known for having used shell companies to secretly purchase Greek Orthodox Church property in East Jerusalem in 2004.

I think the U.S. government should deny tax-exempt status to any organization that facilitates violations of international law.

How about out-law them?