{"id":1309888,"date":"2023-11-02T13:18:20","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T13:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=449563"},"modified":"2023-11-02T13:18:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T13:18:20","slug":"kathy-hochuls-israel-trip-bankrolled-by-group-funding-illegal-settlements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/11\/02\/kathy-hochuls-israel-trip-bankrolled-by-group-funding-illegal-settlements\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathy Hochul\u2019s Israel Trip Bankrolled by Group Funding Illegal Settlements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
After her \u201csolidarity<\/u> mission\u201d<\/span> following the October 7 Hamas surprise attack, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul initially declined to say who covered the cost for the journey to Israel. Her administration would only say it was a \u201cnonprofit that works with the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, Hochul\u2019s office relented, telling reporters that the funder was the UJA-Federation of New York, a Jewish philanthropy that has supported dozens of similar trips for elected officials, including, recently, New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Citing a delay in a state ethics office review, Hochul\u2019s office said it would cover the $12,000 cost after all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n UJA-Federation of New York belongs to a sprawling network of tax-exempt charities under the umbrella of the Jewish Federations of North America, or JFNA. In addition to funding Jewish community groups, federation chapters have also been accused of sending millions in tax-exempt dollars to organizations that support Israel\u2019s illegal settlement program in the occupied West Bank. According to published reports and an Intercept review of recent tax filings, UJA itself has provided more than half a million dollars <\/strong>since 2018 to groups that support Israeli settlements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The arrangement has come under scrutiny in recent years for funneling publicly subsidized money to settlements in Israel that are considered to be illegal under international law, part of Israel\u2019s increasingly successful efforts to foreclose the possibility of a contiguous future Palestinian state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eva Borgwardt, the national spokesperson for the American Jewish anti-occupation group IfNotNow, said that funding settlements diminishes hopes for peace between Palestinians and Israelis.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe UJA has helped destroy any semblance of a \u2018peace process\u2019 or possibility of a two state solution, instead deepening a violent apartheid reality for Palestinians with no end in sight,\u201d Borgwardt told The Intercept. While funding groups operating in settlements, UJA has not supported efforts to de-escalate the current war, Borgwardt said: \u201cIf the UJA and Governor Hochul are concerned about safety for Israelis and hostage returns, they should join us in calling for an immediate ceasefire, release of the hostages, a de-escalation, and an end to the conditions of occupation, apartheid and siege that led to the current nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to questions about the trip and UJA\u2019s funding of groups operating in or supporting settlements, Hochul\u2019s office sent a statement shared with reporters last week. The governor\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment or questions about the payment arrangement for the trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While JFNA, the umbrella group, has in the past said<\/a> it has a policy not to fund investments in the occupied Palestinian territories, individual federations have said<\/a> they don\u2019t have guidelines for distinguishing grants made over the so-called Green Line that demarcates Israel’s internationally recognized borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Jewish Federations’ long-standing policy is that we do not allocate funds for capital investments beyond the Green Line,” JFNA, the umbrella group, said in a statement. “We are also adamant that the incredible support we provide for humanitarian aid, medical assistance, helping victims of terror, and building a stronger, more tolerant, and more accepting civil society should not be denied to those who may need it based on their address.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In many cases, the cash goes to groups that carry out activities on both sides of the so-called Green Line, including groups that do humanitarian work, with the destination of funds sometimes reported in tax filings and other times not. Grants to groups that work on both sides of the Green Line defray other costs, enabling greater resources to flow into settlements or supporting their expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n UJA has directed funds to a wide array of groups in Israel. Among them are organizations promoting Arab\u2013Israeli cooperation and supporting Arab inclusion in Israeli society. The group has also given to Zionist educational and policy organizations. Many recipients of UJA cash are not involved in the settlements, but the group has also donated money to organizations, both in Israel and stateside, that support and participate in the settlement project. (UJA did not respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2018, UJA has given sums totaling in the six figures to groups supporting settlement activity in the West Bank, according to media reports, UJA reports, and tax filings. Through JFNA, New York\u2019s UJA gave nearly $23,000 last year to Ohr Torah Stone, a modern Orthodox Jewish movement founded in the West Bank settlement of Efrat and operates schools in settlements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n The group gave at least $105,000 to Nefesh B’Nefesh, a group that promotes American immigration to Israel and has encouraged<\/a> migrants to move to the West Bank. American Friends of Or National Missions, a New York-based nonprofit that helps expand existing settlements in Israel and establish new ones in the West Bank, received $45,000 from UJA, earmarked for information centers in the Negev and Galilee, areas inside the Green Line. And, in 2019, the group gave $10,000 to the Jewish National Fund, which has financed settlement activity for decades and purchased land<\/a> from Palestinians to hand it to settlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And UJA has donated at least $350,000 to Kedma, earmarked for \u201cbuilding resilience in the Gaza envelope,\u201d an area inside Israel\u2019s internationally recognized border that abuts the occupied Gaza Strip. Kedma provides housing for gap year students, including in Israeli settlements, and administers scholarship and volunteer programs. Among the volunteering tasks, according to Haaretz<\/a>, is working security for ranches used by settlers to seize large swaths of land for so-called hilltop settlements \u2014 those considered illegal even under Israeli law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent weeks, ideological settlers in the West Bank, emboldened<\/a> by the Israeli government\u2019s response to Hamas\u2019s deadly surprise attack and armed with state-issued rifles<\/a>, have killed<\/a> at least 100 Palestinians and displaced<\/a> at least 13 entire communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\u201cThe UJA has helped destroy any semblance of a \u2018peace process\u2019 or possibility of a two state solution.”<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n