Central Fund of Israel
{{Short description|Non-profit organization}}{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Infobox organization
| type = 501(c) organization
| tax_id = 13-2992985
| location_country = United States
| website = {{Official URL}}
}}
The Central Fund of Israel is an American non-profit association which funds projects in Israel, including pro-settler groups.Uri Blau, [http://www.haaretz.com/settlementdollars/1.689683 'Haaretz Investigation: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over Five Years,'] Haaretz 7 December 2015.{{cite news
| title = Major pro-Israel giver funds 'Jihad Watch'
| date = September 5, 2010
| newspaper = The Jerusalem Post
| url = http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=187113
| accessdate = March 6, 2012
| title = The Softspoken Man Behind Times of Israel
| date = February 29, 2012
| newspaper = The Forward
| url = http://www.forward.com/articles/152169/?p=all
| accessdate = March 6, 2012
| archive-date = March 6, 2012
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120306022614/http://www.forward.com/articles/152169/?p=all
| url-status = dead
}} It is run out of the Marcus Brothers Textiles store on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Its director is Jay Marcus. Itamar Marcus is a former vice president of the fund.{{cite news
| title = Officials: Israel outsources monitoring of Palestinian media after IDF lapse
| author = Barak Ravid
| date = January 31, 2012
| newspaper = Haaretz
| url = http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/officials-israel-outsources-monitoring-of-palestinian-media-after-idf-lapse-1.410082
| accessdate = March 5, 2012
}}
Fund recipients
According to its director, the CFI donated in 2009 approximately $13 million to programs that included social-humanitarian, medical, education, religious, security and community projects.{{cite news|title=Hanan Ashrawi ignores glorification of terror|url=https://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/166070-hanan-ashrawi-ignores-glorification-of-terror/|date=July 13, 2010}}{{cite news|title=Tax-Exempt Funds and West Bank Settlements|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/opinion/lweb13mideast.html?_r=2&ref=letters|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 12, 2010}}
The fund also supports Women in Green and Honenu, a legal aid group which supports right-wing activists.{{cite news |title= Charge of the left brigade |author= Boaz Gaon, Jonathan Gurfinkel |date= March 25, 2011 |newspaper=Haaretz |url= http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/charge-of-the-left-brigade-1.351789 |access-date= March 6, 2012 }}{{cite news |title= Amid row over contentious ad, Jerusalem Post fires Naomi Chazan of New Israel Fund |author= Jonathan Lis |date= February 5, 2010 |newspaper=Haaretz |url= http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/amid-row-over-contentious-ad-jerusalem-post-fires-naomi-chazan-of-new-israel-fund-1.265894 |access-date= March 6, 2012 }}{{Cite news |title= U.S. Non-Profit Targeted Rights Group over Goldstone |author= Eli Clifton |date= February 9, 2010 |work= Inter Press Service |url= http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2843 |access-date= March 5, 2012 |archive-date= January 17, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120117062551/http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2843 |url-status= dead }} There are financial links between the fund and Im Tirtzu, for whom it is the main channel for donations.{{cite news |title= Israel needs its internal critics |author= Jonathan Freedland |author-link= Jonathan Freedland |date= February 18, 2010 |newspaper=The Jewish Chronicle |url= http://www.thejc.com/node/28308 |access-date= March 5, 2012 }}
In May 2021, The Intercept reported, "Since 2011, the CFI has given the Israel Land Fund over $720,000 for its settlement activities, according to documents filed to Israeli regulators and reviewed by The Intercept. In 2017, the Central Fund of Israel’s donation constituted 99.2 percent of the Israel Land Fund’s total budget."{{cite news |title=Tax-Exempt U.S. Nonprofits Fuel Israeli Settler Push to Evict Palestinians |url=https://theintercept.com/2021/05/14/israel-settler-evictions-jerusalem-nonprofits/ |access-date=2 June 2021 |agency=The Intercept |date=14 May 2021}}
The organization was among a number of US groups reported by The New York Times as using tax exempt status to help fund the Israeli settlement project in the occupied territories. The New York Times described the fund as a "prominent clearing house" used by dozens of West Bank organisations as "a vehicle for channeling donations back to themselves" in order for donors to receive US tax breaks.{{cite news
| title = Tax-Exempt Funds Aid Settlements in West Bank
|author=Jim Rutenberg
|author-link=Jim Rutenberg
|author2=Mike McIntire |author3=Ethan Bronner |author3-link=Ethan Bronner | date = July 5, 2010
| newspaper = The New York Times
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/world/middleeast/06settle.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
| accessdate = March 5, 2012
}}
The Central Fund of Israel funds right-wing Zionist organisations{{cite news
| title = Foreign Ministry working with rightists against Palestinian incitement
| date = May 7, 2010
| newspaper = Haaretz
| url = http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/foreign-ministry-working-with-rightists-against-palestinian-incitement-1.288828
| accessdate = March 15, 2012
| title = Beit Orot holds NY fundraising dinner
| author = E.B. Solomont
| date = January 8, 2010
| newspaper = The Jerusalem Post
| url = http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=165579
| quote = In recent months, donations to the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in the Yitzhar settlement came under scrutiny after a rabbi at the yeshiva said it is permissible to kill Palestinian babies because of "the future danger that will arise if they are allowed to grow into evil people like their parents." Another rabbi at the yeshiva reportedly encouraged incitement against Arabs and Israeli security forces seeking to enforce the government's settlement policies. According to investigative reporter Philip Weiss, on his Web site, mondoweiss.net, the yeshiva received $27,000 from the New York-based Central Fund of Israel in 2007 and 2008.
| accessdate = March 5, 2012
| title = U.S. tax dollars fund rabbi who excused killing gentile babies
| author = Akiva Eldar
| author-link = Akiva Eldar
| date = December 15, 2009
| newspaper = Haaretz
| url = http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/akiva-eldar-u-s-tax-dollars-fund-rabbi-who-excused-killing-gentile-babies-1.2137
| quote = This is the same yeshiva whose rabbi said it is permissible to kill gentile babies because of "the future danger that will arise if they are allowed to grow into evil people like their parents."...A report on donations submitted by the yeshiva to the registrar of nonprofit organizations revealed that the American public also participates in financing the message coming out of Yitzhar. It states that in 2007 and 2008, the yeshiva received NIS 102,547 from an American foundation known as the Central Fund of Israel.
| accessdate = March 5, 2012
}} operating in the occupied territories. Funds were reportedly directed to the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva. The yeshiva, located in the West Bank had come under scrutiny after Yitzhak Shapira, a rabbi at the yeshiva, said it is permissible to kill Palestinian babies because of "the future danger that will arise if they are allowed to grow into evil people like their parents."
The Israel Land Fund, a benefactor of the Central Fund of Israel, "assisted in the eviction of a Palestinian family in Sheikh Jarrah in 2017".{{cite news |title=Tax-Exempt U.S. Nonprofits Fuel Israeli Settler Push to Evict Palestinians |url=https://theintercept.com/2021/05/14/israel-settler-evictions-jerusalem-nonprofits/ |access-date=2 June 2021 |agency=The Intercept |date=14 May 2021}}
Opposition
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has filed a number of complaints with the US Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service over organizations, such as the Central Fund of Israel, that fund settlement development in the West Bank.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|132992985}}
Category:Israeli-American culture in New York City
Category:Israeli-American history
Category:Jewish organizations based in New York City
Category:Non-profit organizations based in New York City
Category:Zionist organizations in the United States
Category:Organizations involved in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict