Powered by WebAds

Friday, July 31, 2009

Israeli NGO takes battle against 'settlements' to the US

Far left Israeli NGO 'Gush Shalom' is taking the battle against Jews living in Judea and Samaria to the United States. The organization is trying to have the US tax-exempt status of organizations that support the revenants revoked.
The left-wing organization Gush Shalom is launching a campaign against organizations soliciting donations in the United States, particularly those receiving US federal tax exemptions for settlements and illegal outposts, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The timing of the campaign has been stepped up from September to August because the Foreign Ministry recently launched its own campaign to block governments of foreign countries from donating money to human rights organizations in Israel.

One of the organizations singled out by Gush Shalom is called "Shuva Israel," which describes itself as "a US non-profit organization with 501c3 IRS tax deductible status."

The organization solicits money for a long list of West Bank settlements and illegal outposts including Havat Gilad and Havat Ya'ir, which are on the list of outposts Israel has promised the US to dismantle.

...

Asked about the Gush Shalom campaign, David Halevy, the head of Shuva Israel, said, "This is incredibly outrageous. They have the gall to do this after receiving so many millions of dollars from foreign governments supporting left-wing organizations that influence activity in Israel."

He said the money collected is used to subsidize schools, libraries, youth activity, women empowerment training and other projects in the settlements and outposts. Asked how much money his group collects per year, Halevy replied, "I wish we collected more than we do. If we could get 10 percent of what these left-wing organizations receive, we could do a great deal."

Gush Shalom said that in the second stage of the campaign, it will focus on the financing mechanisms of mainstream organizations such as Nefesh B'Nefesh, Christian Zionist philanthropies, the Jewish National Fund and the World Zionist Organization, which are also active in the West Bank.
Gush Shalom is so far outside the Israeli mainstream I cannot begin to tell you. They are well to the left of Meretz - the furthest left Jewish political party in the Knesset. They actively discourage soldiers serving over the 'green line' in the IDF. If they start going after mainstream organizations like the ones listed in that last paragraph, they can assure themselves of well-deserved perpetual pariah status.

But maybe without their European funding (the lead story in the paper edition of Friday's JPost is that the government is trying to stop NGO's from being funded from abroad) they'll shrivel up and die. Heh.

1 Comments:

At 9:20 AM, Blogger NormanF said...

Like I said, Carl - banning Israeli NGOs from getting foreign funding would result in the disappearance of Far Left ones. True, it would also effect Land Of Israel and religious groups, but they're better off raising the money at home than abroad. If they can't appeal to Israelis, they have no business existing in the first place.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

Google