U.S. tax-exempt charities are in league with the devil in the occupied territories. Coteret, an increasingly important blog by Didi Remez, tells us:
Last Tuesday (December 1 2009) an investigative report in Haaretz revealed that Machanaim a US 501c3 tax exempt charity is funding the Task Force to Save the Nation and the Land (aka SOS Israel), the organization that offered every soldier refusing to evacuate a settlement, and the Kfir Brigade soldiers who publicly demonstrated their opposition to evacuation, NIS 1,000 for every day they spend in military prison
The report criticized the Government for not taking action against a registered association inciting mutiny, noting also that it might be a good idea to ask the US to cease providing tax-exemptions for the funder.
Philip Weiss wonders why the pro-Israel, pro-peace camp doesn’t lodge more angry protests against tax exempt funds that support the settlement enterprise, like the Hebron Fund that did a fundraiser at Shea Stadium recently.
I’ve often taken exception to MondoWeiss, but when Phil is right, he’s right. The idea that tax exemptions are available to people who are helping the settlers resist the settlement freeze or who prop up the Jewish zealots in Hebron is outrageous. Weiss notes: “This is actually an issue we can all do business on” and “this is an area where the radicals and the liberals can join forces to good effect.”
If you tell me that it is Weiss who is the devil and that I am naively taking his satanic bait by doing what he wants me to do, I will tell you, “Who cares?” What’s wrong is wrong. This blog accepts the truth from all sources, whether it’s MondoWeiss or Arutz Sheva.
That said, I can’t find fault with woefully understaffed, liberal Jewish groups that haven’t adopted this particular issue yet. They must choose among a zillion competing priorities in the course of every week, and if this one hasn’t been a prime target on their radar screens, they should be given a lot of slack. I should be given slack as well, because I can only spare the time and energy for an occasional post these days.
But I suspect there is another problem. Perhaps the rhetorical atmosphere created by some on the far-left is so poisonous that if they support an action or a cause, many people in my camp will hesitate to join them. We’ve got to get over this, somehow. We should call upon the American government to cancel these tax exemptions NOW.
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