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| Ties between Hamas-linked charities and BDS highlighted in Congressional testimony |
| 2016-04-21 |
| [IsraelTimes] Terror finance expert describes ’network’ of ex-fundraisers in organizations linked to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and key pro-boycott organization The US should boost transparency of nonprofit organizations in order to shed light on ties between a key pro-boycott organization and defunct charities that were implicated in funding Hamas, analyst Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told members of Congress during testimony Tuesday afternoon when two subcommittees of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs met to discuss current threats to Israel. During testimony, experts including Schanzer highlighted regional nonstate actors such as Iran and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) as key threats to Israel. The chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, Ted Poe, described the BDS movement as "a threat which seeks [Israel’s] ultimate destruction." Schanzer, a former terror finance analyst for the US Treasury, presented open-source research conducted by his group, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies which highlighted a network linking Hamas supporters with the leadership of the BDS movement. The research tracked employees of three now-defunct organizations ‐ the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, Kind Hearts Foundation for Humanitarian Development and the Islamic Association for Paleostine -- all of which were implicated by the federal government for terrorism finance, specifically of Hamas. A federal court found that the Holy Land Foundation had sent some $12 million to Hamas over the course of a decade The research yielded what Schanzer described as "a troubling outcome" ‐ with seven key employees of these organizations now associated with the Illinois-based organization American Muslims for Paleostine. Schanzer told members of Congress that the latter is "arguably the leading BDS organization in the US, a key sponsor of the anti-Israel campus network known as Students for Justice in Paleostine." The organization, he said, provides money, speakers, training and even "apartheid walls" to SJP activists on campus, for the annual Israel Apartheid Week events. "The overlap between AMP, Holy Land, Kind Hearts and the Islamic Association for Paleostine is striking," said Schanzer, but noted that "our open source research did not indicate that AMP or any of these individuals are currently involved in any illegal activity." "The BDS campaign may pose a threat to Israel, but the network I describe here is decidedly an American problem," he warned. Americans for Justice in Paleostine raises money as a transparent 501c3 tax-exempt non-profit, which then provides funds for AMP which has the usually temporary designation of a corporate non-profit ‐ a status that is usually transitional en route to a tax-exempt 501c3 organization. "There appear to be flaws in the federal and state oversight of non-profits charities," Schanzer complained. Although advocating for increased transparency, Schanzer said that he had a sense from talking to former colleagues that the Treasury was less invested in uncovering charities serving to fund terror networks than in the past. "BDS advocates are free to say what they want, true or false, but tax advantaged organizations are obliged to be transparent," Schanzer told the panel. "Americans have a right to know who is leading the BDS campaign and so do the students who may not be aware of AMP’s leaders or their goals." |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 Certainly a far cry from the 'IRA' Mason jar found on Irish-pub bartops from Boston to Georgetown. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-04-21 12:44 |
| #1 US-funding of Hamas dates practically from the date it was founded. In the early nineteen nineties Saudi and Gulf state funds were funneled through the New Jersey BMI, an Islamic investment bank, and the bogus Palestinian Occupied Land Fund operating out of Los Angeles. The Fund changed its name to Holy Land Foundation in 1992 and continued to operate for years. |
| Posted by: Herb Thutch1185 2016-04-21 11:13 |