JERUSALEM: Under British stress, Israel has pledged to offer large quantities of humanitarian assistance into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. However, the US and Israel have allowed tax-deductible gifts to far-right organizations that have prevented that help from being delivered at the same time.
In an analysis of crowdfunding sites and additional public data, The Associated Press and the Israeli investigative site Shomrim discovered that three groups have raised more than$ 200, 000 from sponsors in the US and Israel, including one that has been accused of stealing or destroying products.
According to groups working to bring more help into the area, encouraging these donations by making them tax-deductible goes against America’s and Israel’s stated commitments to allow unrestricted food, water, and medicine into Gaza. Even after the US placed restrictions against one of these organizations, gifts have continued.
By no cracking down on these groups, Israel is showing a “lack of consistency” in its Gaza assistance plan, said Tania Hary, senior director of Gisha, an Jewish nonprofit that has long called on Israel to improve conditions in the country.
Can you really say you’re facilitating help if you say you’re allowing support in but also say you’re facilitating the deeds of teams that are blocking it? she said.
Israeli government authorities did not respond to requests for comment. The US State Department stated that it was committed to ensuring the distribution of aid, but it had not commented on the far-right organizations ‘ charity work.
Israel has stated on numerous occasions that it does not hinder humanitarian aid and that the UN has failed to deliver the thousands of carloads of goods that have reached the place. Deliveries have been constantly hampered by military operations, chaos in Gaza, and delays in Israeli inspections, according to the U.N. and aid organizations.
The three organizations that AP and Shomrim examined have slowed the flow of help by blocking trucks traveling through Gaza either by snarling traffic or just standing in front of the major Kerem Shalom passing into Gaza.
Although these organizations are not the main factor in stopping support from arriving, some Israeli leaders have given them covert help. Israel’s ultranationalist chancellor for regional security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has said aid supplies to Gaza may become blocked and he supported the right of competitors to show, though he said it should not be done fiercely.
One of the parties, Mother’s March, has raised the equivalent of over$ 125, 000 via Givechack, an Israeli crowdfunding site, the AP and Shomrim found. The team also raised some$ 13, 000 via JGive, a US and Israeli crowdfunding page. In Israel and the US, donations to charitable institutions are tax-deductible.
Family’s March does not raise the money instantly. Rather, it collaborates with Torat Lechima, a partner organization that raises money for it.
Torat Lechima, whose name translates lightly as” combat doctrine”, is engaged in Israeli patriotic lines and runs to” improve the Jewish identity and fighting spirit” among Jewish men, according to its website. On the JGive website in the US, Torat Lechima is still looking for donations for Mother’s March.
Until it was sanctioned last month, a third group, Tzav 9, raised over$ 85, 000 from close to 1, 500 donors in the US and Israel via JGive. According to JGive, donations to Tzav 9 were frozen even before the sanctions were imposed and not delivered to the organization.
Israel should not be aiding the Palestinians, according to all three groups, who have ties to Israel’s ultranationalist far right. As long as Hamas is holding dozens of people hostage, Hamas is holding dozens of people hostage. Hamas is also said to be stealing a lot of the money, despite aid organizations ‘ claims.
” No to humanitarian aid that fuels the enemy’s murder!” No to the countless trucks that pass through Kerem Shalom each day,” and drag out the war”! Mother’s March said in a recent crowdfunding campaign. It said the funds were needed for demonstrations, shuttles, printing materials and publicity campaigns.
In early February, hundreds of activists stayed in tents at Kerem Shalom for a number of nights before halting the distribution of aid. The head of Mother’s March, Sima Hasson, was briefly detained by Israeli police in January after temporarily blocking trucks.
Large convoys of cars have been reported in Israeli media to be preventing aid trucks from passing along Israeli highways, as well as activists who have looted and destroyed supplies.
The White House claimed in its sanctions order that Tzav 9 had violently blocked roads, damaged aid trucks, and dumped supplies on the side of the road. It claimed in May that Tzav 9 members had looted and set on fire two trucks carrying aid to Gaza in the West Bank. Last week, the White House imposed sanctions on the group’s co-founders.
Israeli police, who fall under the authority of Ben-Gvir, have made few arrests, though the group appears to have stopped its activities in recent weeks.
Tzav 9 defended its actions as “in a democratic protest within the framework of the law.” It called the sanctions from the US “anti-democratic intervention”.
Neither Mother’s March nor Torat Lechima responded to requests for comment.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which killed roughly 1, 200 people and took 250 others hostage.
The offensive has killed over 38, 000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and unleashed a humanitarian crisis in the densely populated territory. International officials claim that hundreds of thousands of people are in danger of famine, and that over 80 % of the population has been displaced.
Israel is accused of war crimes and genocide by two international courts, allegations that Israel denies as it pledges to keep the aid coming to Gaza.
Assets that are in violation of Tsav 9’s sanctions could be frozen or people could be subject to visa and travel bans.
How effective these sanctions will be is unknown. Israeli settlers in the West Bank claim that Israeli leaders ‘ efforts to circumvent similar US sanctions have had little impact.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined comment. The Justice Ministry, which regulates nonprofits, said it would investigate but had no further comment.
According to JGive, it abides by Israeli laws. In addition to freezing Tzav 9’s donations, it noted that the Mother’s March campaign ended over four months ago.
The US State Department urged Israel to stop blocking aid from reaching Gaza and to punish those who attempt to stop it.
” The targeting of aid trucks by violent extremist settlers is unacceptable, and we’ve made that clear to the government of Israel”, it said. It objected to any comments on the fundraising efforts of the groups.
Hary, of the Israeli activist group Gisha, noted that the efforts of Mother’s March and Tzav 9 appear to have quieted down in recent weeks. But she said they could resume activities at any time as they continue to look for donors.
She said,” They’re receiving signals from various parts of the government that Gaza should be completely cut off.”
