Why won’t the government enforce its own laws against campus antisemites
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Why won’t the government enforce its own laws against campus antisemites?

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Why won’t the government enforce its own laws against campus antisemites?

The Justice and Education Departments must finally protect Jewish students’ civil rights.

(May 20, 2024 / JNS) Elie Wiesel once said, “The opposite of love is not hatred, it’s indifference. … Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end.”

UCLA has been in the news lately for all of the wrong reasons. A video recently went viral that showed anti-Israel “protestors” preventing a Jewish student from walking across campus. There was also footage of a Jewish student being physically assaulted. Pro-Hamas student “activists” lead antisemitic chants, demonizing and delegitimizing Israel and terrorizing Jews. This obviously constitutes the creation of a hostile environment and the violation of civil rights.

It didn’t have to come to this.

UCLA could have fulfilled its responsibility to protect Jewish students as it would any other group of students. The federal government could have enforced existing laws that safeguard protected groups. Had this occurred, the current antisemitic campus mayhem would have been prevented.

My organization the Zachor Legal Institute has filed two Title VI complaints with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on behalf of UCLA students—one in 2018 and the other in 2022. In response, investigations into UCLA were opened. Neither complaint has been resolved, however. Based on what we have heard from others, the Department of Education is simply sitting on the investigations and taking no action.

Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in federally funded programs based on, among other things, national origin and shared identity. Lest there be any question as to whether Jews are protected by Title VI, President Donald Trump enshrined existing understandings on this matter in an Executive Order that governs Title VI investigations.

Our complaints related to Jewish students’ experience of antisemitism at the UCLA campus, driven by the hate group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and UCLA faculty. The first complaint specifically addressed the hostile campus environment created by SJP. Nonetheless, the Department of Education has steadfastly refused to take any action against the group notwithstanding numerous investigations since 2018.

The results of inaction are clear: The federal government is not enforcing civil rights law and universities are not in compliance with those laws or even their own regulations.

Besides Title VI, the campus rampages are a blatant violation of three civil rights laws enacted after the end of slavery. The laws were intended to prevent mobs from depriving freed blacks of their constitutional and other rights.

Long after slavery was abolished, mobs often affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan worked with local officials to deprive blacks of the right to free speech, assembly and participation in government programs like public education. The mobs carried out this campaign in a familiar fashion: They hid behind masks and engaged in open violence. With the backing of local law enforcement, school officials and even political office holders, the mobs showed up in large numbers to prevent blacks from attending schools or voting.

Thankfully, laws were enacted to confront this menace. Those laws still exist. Often known as the “KKK Laws,” they are used to combat everything from police brutality and election interference to, just this year, preventing access to abortion facilities.

When we see masked SJP agents brandish weapons and physically prevent Jewish students from moving freely on campus, we are seeing history repeat itself. Only instead of Klansmen in robes it is students in keffiyehs.

After waiting months for the Department of Justice to take action and enforce the KKK Laws to protect Jewish students, a coalition of 29 organizations led by Zachor Legal Institute sent a detailed prosecution request to Attorney General Merrick Garland. It laid out the case for the application of the KKK Laws to SJP’s systemic civil rights violations.

This request, if acted upon, will result in criminal investigations (and punishment) of those who commit these violations. It does not seek to silence speech but to protect vulnerable students while ensuring that everyone on campus can exercise their rights. Fighting the KKK back then was not oppression and fighting its modern counterparts is not oppression now.

The U.S. is a nation of laws, yet Jewish students are being abandoned by those tasked with enforcing those laws. Their suffering is far worse than being called by the wrong pronoun. As an activist organization seeking equal protection for Jewish students, Zachor Legal Institute and our allied organizations will not stand idly by as the country descends into a morass of terrorist campaigns to deprive Jews of their basic rights.

Think about it this way: If KKK-connected campus groups prevented black students from moving freely on campus; if the Westboro Baptist Church invaded campuses to prevent gay students from attending classes; if Jewish students were to hunt down Muslim students; or if pro-life activists prevented students from accessing campus abortion resources, would the Department of Justice refuse to act? Would federal civil rights investigations be in their sixth year without no updates, let alone action?

Only the Department of Justice can enforce the laws meant to ensure that all Americans can exercise their constitutional and federally protected rights. Continued inaction feeds the flames of hate. It enables those who sympathize with terrorism. Jewish students are the sacrificial lambs.

Click here to read the original JNS article.

Why did Texas A&M decide to shut down its Qatar campus
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Why did Texas A&M decide to shut down its Qatar campus?

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Why would a respectable public American university decide to shut down its Middle East campus, sacrificing international prestige and hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from a tiny Gulf country with almost unlimited oil wealth?

Zachor Legal Institute spent over five years in litigation with Qatar to obtain information about its activities at Texas A&M, a public university.  Our original premise was that Qatar, an incredibly wealthy country with a long history of funding terrorists, may also be funding radical student groups in the United States.

According to the contracts we secured, Texas A&M was handing over intellectual property to Qatar. The agreements were signed between Texas A&M and the Qatar Foundation, a government-controlled agency that maintains the relationships between Qatar and foreign universities.

These contracts allowed Qatar to obtain control of discoveries made at the Doha campus using Texas A&M’s world-class resources, including those related to nuclear research. For example, here is an excerpt from one of the contracts:

“The Qatar Foundation shall own the entire right, title, and interest in all Technology and Intellectual Property developed at (Texas A&M University Qatar) or under the auspices of its Research Program.”

Americans rightfully expect that information with sensitive military and commercial value will not be shared with countries that sponsor terrorism or promote anti-American propaganda. Qatar does both.

Qatar supports and maintains a close relationship with the US-designated terror group, Hamas and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Qatar also uses its propaganda arm, Al Jazeera, and billions of dollars of purchased influence in numerous American universities to spread anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda.

The audacity of Texas A&M and Qatar cannot be overstated. They bypassed the national security concerns of the US government to set their independent foreign policy, which includes potentially giving Qatar and Iran access to highly classified technology that can put Americans and the entire civilized world in harm’s way.

Qatar doesn’t believe in transparency, but what about Texas? 

Both Texas A&M and its patrons at the Qatar Foundation made it extremely difficult to review the public information we requested. We initially filed a public records request in early 2018, requesting information about how much funding Texas A&M received from the obscure, terror-enabling country that was funneling significant amounts of money to major US universities.

Rather than providing us with the information we were legally entitled to according to the Texas Public Records Act, the Qatar Foundation filed a lawsuit petitioning the Texas Attorney General to enable the university to suppress the delivery of public records.

At the first hearing of the case, the Texas judge responded to Qatar’s attorneys by asking simply, “Don’t the people of the State of Texas have a right to know what a hostile foreign country is doing to influence our flagship public university?”

Judicial Watch represented us during five years of litigation until the Texas court finally ruled in our favor and ordered Texas A&M to produce the relevant records.

What we found in the contracts was a comprehensive scheme whereby Texas A&M essentially sold Qatar cutting-edge intellectual property focusing on engineering and science, including, we believe, access to Texas A&M’s renowned nuclear science program via intellectual property assignments.

Not long after this information was made public, Texas A&M announced the closure of its campus in Qatar.

Significant Questions Remain Open

Despite the important decision of Texas A&M to shut down its Doha campus, two important questions remain open:

  • What nuclear and other sensitive military-grade intellectual property was made available to Qatar, and likely to Iran as well?
  • What did the other prestigious North American and European universities with campuses in Qatar, including Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Georgetown, and Northwestern, agree to in exchange for billions of dollars from Qatar?

The exposure of Texas A&M is likely only the tip of the iceberg on how Qatar, directly and indirectly, influences American institutions and public opinion. Therefore, it is critical to continue shedding light on this largely undocumented meddling in American domestic and international affairs.

Click here to view original article in the Jerusalem Post.

Legal Fact Sheet on Israel and Colonialism
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Zachor Legal Institute Provides Students and Activists With A Legal Fact Sheet on Israel and Colonialism

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Rebutting the false claims that Israel is a settler-colonialist entity and showing who the true settler-colonialists are in the Middle East

BOZEMAN, MONTANA, USA, November 12, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — As antisemitism rages on university campuses and urban streets, Zachor Legal Institute is making available our important law review article, “The True History of Colonialism in the Holy Land: The 2042 B.C.E. Project”. This article examines the history of the terms “Imperialism”, “Colonialism” and “Settler-Colonialism” as well as the history of the Jewish people in their historic homeland of Israel to rebut claims that Israel occupies the land of others.

Because terms like “settler-colonialism” are increasingly used in the legal and political context, Zachor President Marc Greendorfer engaged in a year long research project to find out what the terms actually mean, what legal impact they should have and, most important, whether Jews, the indigenous people of Israel, can be considered settler-colonialists.

Marc Greendorfer, president of Zachor Legal Institute, remarked “Of all the law review articles I’ve published, this is the most important one for today’s Jewish activists and for educating the public. My research and scholarship shows that there is a rich history of imperialism, colonialism and settler-colonialism in the Middle East. What is going to surprise most people is that Jews are the victims of imperialism, colonialism and settler-colonialism, stretching back thousands of years. This article is a critical piece of information that will set the record straight as Jewish students and institutions come under increasing attack by terror-backed groups like Students for Justice in Palestine.”

The result of this research has just been published as a peer reviewed law review article: “The True History and Legal Meaning of Colonialism in the Holy Land: The 2042 BCE Project.”

The title of the paper is a reference to the founding of Judaism and the path of Jews from the patriarch and matriarch, Abraham and Sarah, to today’s Jews.

Zachor encourages you to download, read and distribute this important article, especially as a counterpoint to those who claim that Israel is a settler-colonialist entity. Further, Zachor will be happy to provide its educational materials based on this article as a counterpoint to ethnic studies activists who seek to rebut antisemitic ethnic studies modules on Jews and Arabs.

Renews Call for DOJ to Investigate Antisemitic Campus Groups
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Zachor Legal Institute Renews Call for DOJ to Investigate Antisemitic Campus Groups

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Calls for the federal government to prosecute terror-affiliated campus groups are more relevant now than ever before.

BOZEMAN, MT, UNITED STATES, November 12, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — Zachor Legal Institute, a non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to combating antisemitism, is once again urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to initiate a RICO investigation into terror-backed campus groups. In 2018, the institute submitted a letter to the DOJ outlining the need for such an investigation, and now, more than ever, they are calling on the federal government to take action.

The letter, which can be found on the Zachor Legal Institute’s website, highlights the alarming rise of antisemitism on college campuses and the involvement of terror-backed groups in promoting this hate. These groups, often disguised as social justice organizations, use their platforms to spread anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric, inciting violence and discrimination against Jewish students.

According to the institute, a RICO investigation is necessary to uncover the true intentions and funding sources of these groups, as well as to hold them accountable for their actions. The use of RICO laws, which were originally designed to combat organized crime, would allow the DOJ to prosecute these groups as criminal enterprises and potentially dismantle their operations.

In light of recent events, including the rise of antisemitic incidents and attacks on college campuses, the Zachor Legal Institute is renewing their call for the DOJ to take action. They believe that the federal government has a responsibility to protect the rights and safety of all students, regardless of their religion or political beliefs.

The institute is urging the public to join them in their efforts by sharing the letter and raising awareness about the need for a RICO investigation. They also encourage concerned individuals to contact their local representatives and urge them to support this cause. The Zachor Legal Institute remains committed to fighting against antisemitism and ensuring that all students have a safe and inclusive learning environment.

Full Press Release: https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/668071195/zachor-legal-institute-renews-call-for-doj-to-investigate-antisemitic-campus-groups

Zachor against Palestinian terrorists
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Palestinian terrorists ‘exploit loopholes’ for taxpayer dollars, watchdog tells Congress

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EXCLUSIVE — Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups “exploit” little-known “loopholes” to fundraise and gain major footing in the United States financial system due to a lack of Treasury Department laws, a watchdog group alleged in a memo to Congress this week.

The eight-page memo was authored by Zachor Legal Institute, an organization that “combats the detrimental financial impact and discriminatory effects of antisemitic activity,” and forwarded Monday evening to senior Republican majority staffers on the House Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means committees, according to a copy obtained by the Washington Examiner. It comes as concern grows among lawmakers over pro-Palestinian activist hubs across the country sharing ties with terrorist factions while, in some cases, enjoying tax-exempt status through the IRS.

Marc Greendorfer, the watchdog’s president, laid out his case for why the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control should strengthen its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, which counts people and entities, such as terrorists or drug traffickers, that are barred from gaining access to U.S. assets. While Greendorfer said SDN has mostly “been extremely effective,” he argued Hamas, Hezbollah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other U.S.-designated terrorist groups “are able to evade OFAC’s sanctions program by creating or enlisting third-party front organizations that purport to be charitable or humanitarian groups but are, in fact, support organs of terror organizations.”

The Foreign Affairs Committee confirmed receipt of the memo, as did the Ways and Means panel.

In mid-October, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 10 Hamas officials, as well as “financial facilitators” in the Middle East, including Hamas commander Ayman Nofal, who was already killed by Israel’s military by the time the U.S. added him to SDN. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a bill in late October seeking to sanction all members of Hamas, which launched its unprecedented attack against Israel on Oct. 7. Since that time, over 1,400 Israelis and 33 Americans have been killed, according to officials for both countries. Hamas alleges over 10,000 are dead in Gaza, though national security experts and the U.S. government scrutinize the data as unreliable.

The watchdog’s memo mentioned Holy Land Foundation, a defunct charity shuttered by the U.S. government in 2001 due to Hamas support and later sanctioned, and Alliance for Global Justice, another charity in Arizona that is still active.

In early 2023, Greendorfer’s group accused AFGJ, which was revealed through a Washington Examiner investigation of sharing anti-Israel terrorism ties, in an IRS complaint of providing material support to terrorism. This is because AFGJ fiscally sponsors the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, an Israeli-designated terrorist organization that has shared staffers with the PFLP.

“For example, while Hamas is an SDN and thus can’t directly raise funds in the United States, all it has to do, and all it has done, is either create successors to the Holy Land Foundation or infiltrate and take control of existing charities to continue fundraising,” Greendorfer wrote in the memo. “In fact, the new charity doesn’t even need to go through the process of applying for tax-exempt status; rather, an existing tax-exempt organization can ‘fiscally sponsor’ the new charity and provide the new charity’s donors with the tax-exempt benefits donors crave.”

Greendorfer pointed out that fiscal sponsorship allows projects to avoid financial scrutiny, given they are not required to file tax forms with the IRS. Through fiscal sponsorship, registered charities often provide services, such as donation processing, human resources, and legal oversight, to grassroots projects housed under them, according to the National Council of Nonprofits.

The lawyer is calling on the IRS to review this charitable arrangement and require greater reporting of assets for “transparency” purposes. He’s also requesting the Treasury Department investigate Hamas “aliases” to sanction any entities found to be operating as guises for terrorism.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who sits on the Foreign Affairs panel, said the “financial superstructure that fundraises and finances for global terror — in this country and all over the world — is becoming more clear than ever.” In late September, the congressman demanded the FBI and Treasury Department investigate the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue over it previously letting the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, a group sponsored by AFGJ, have an account.

“The Congress can’t turn away because the truth is too important,” Issa told the Washington Examiner.

The Treasury Department did not return a request for comment.

Original Washington Examiner story: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/palestinian-terrorist-groups-loopholes-memo-congress-hamas-israel.

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Anti-Israel indoctrination in US schools

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(October 30, 2023 / JNS) There are regular news accounts of children in Gaza being indoctrinated via United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) schools to dehumanize Jews, while portraying Israel as completely lacking in legitimacy. The role this played in the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre may well have been decisive.

IMPACT-se is the leading organization making this terror indoctrination in Gaza and Palestinian Authority schools accessible to English-speaking audiences. You can find examples on their website.

Most Americans I know, when they hear about the brainwashing of Palestinian youth, shake their heads and find it unbelievable that schools would engage in such actions, which are clearly detrimental to students. It is seen as the behavior of backwards third-world nations.

For Jewish Americans, it is even more difficult to accept, as the target of violence caused by this terror-related instruction is invariably Israel.

These same Americans are even more shocked to discover that similar incidents of indoctrination masquerading as education are occurring throughout the U.S.

Ethnic studies curriculums in K-12 schools, especially in California, are presenting as facts extremely defamatory misinformation about the Jewish state. This is not by chance or a case of a biased teacher here or there, but rather an organized effort by ethnic studies advocates nationwide.

The Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium (LESMCC) is leading efforts to impose Critical Race Theory (CRT)-based ethnic studies courses on as many schools as possible in California and around the country. Inherent in LESMCC’s philosophy is that Israel is a racist endeavor, wreaking havoc for Arabs in “Palestine.” Unfortunately, supporters of the LESMCC are finding a large quantity of school districts receptive to their discriminatory propositions.

Are you aware of what public schools are teaching our children about Israel’s current war with the genocidal jihadist terror group Hamas?

We have heard examples of schools throughout the country teaching that there is a moral equivalence between the two sides of the war and that each side is equally at fault. This is an abomination.

California has mandated such ethnic studies as a graduation requirement for high school students and school districts are now starting to build the content for these courses.

Chillingly, many California school districts are introducing ethnic studies by using “whites as colonizer/settler/oppressor” models, with minority students being the victims. They often include Arab Americans as one of these minorities. This does not educate students but indoctrinates them with an ideology.

We know that some schools are taking the next step, teaching that Jews are “white” and Israel is colonizing/oppressing the indigenous Arabs of Palestine. All of this is not only wrong, it gets the facts backwards.

In addition, the University of California (UC) public universities are considering adding an ethnic studies admissions requirement. A letter co-signed by 115 organizations urged UC decision-makers to take a good look at those on the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council who are promoting this new admissions requirement. UC faculty who cannot acknowledge that the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre was terrorism and a crime against humanity, and state that anti-Zionism and the elimination of the Jewish state are core values of their discipline, cannot be trusted to establish state-wide ethnic studies standards for California students.

What will students think about Israel and Jews if this is what they are taught? The next generation doesn’t learn to see the world this way at universities. The brainwashing begins much earlier in their elementary and high schools.

If you’ve heard the messaging at pro-Hamas rallies being held throughout the country, the slanders directed at Israel are identical to what is being taught in these ethnic studies courses: oppressor, settler and colonizer. See, for example, the Santa Ana Unified School District and the Jefferson Union High School District.

The California Education Code requires that instructional materials be accurate, objective and free of bias. Whatever else one thinks of LESMCC, its material is clearly biased, inaccurate and intentionally subjective to the point of being sectarian propaganda. Schools that are offering one-sided anti-Israel content from LESMCC and others are therefore violating California educational codes as well as federal law.

Subjecting children to political biases is wrong, both in Palestinian-controlled territories and in the U.S. It is critical that everyone concerned make themselves aware of ethnic studies courses being taught in K-12 school districts and take action to ensure that anti-Israel lies are not being taught to their or anyone else’s children.

JNS original article: https://www.jns.org/anti-israel-indoctrination-in-us-schools/. 

 

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Palestinian terror-tied group booted from new online fundraising platform

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EXCLUSIVE — A “progressive” charity revealed through a Washington Examiner investigation to share Palestinian terror connections was choked off from fundraising by the fourth payment processor this year.

PayPal, Stripe, and Salsa Labs have all in 2023 stopped working with Alliance for Global Justice, an Arizona nonprofit group that has come under congressional scrutiny and legal pressure for its ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group. The next company jumping ship from the charity is the Minneapolis-based Deluxe, which in October provided Alliance for Global Justice a lifeline to rake in contributions through credit cards and bank transfers in the United States, Deluxe told the Washington Examiner.

“Deluxe has terminated its relationship with this organization and will no longer process any donations for it,” spokesman Keith Negrin said. “We take our values and responsibility to the communities we serve very seriously and were unaware of the nature of this organization, which had only recently become a customer. Again, thank you for bringing it to our attention.”

The revelation is the latest blow to Alliance for Global Justice’s ability to maintain financial stability and comes after PayPal informed House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) in late September it was cutting ties with the charity. Through fiscal sponsorship, Alliance for Global Justice provides left-wing projects with services such as donations, payroll, and health insurance. One coalition sponsored by Alliance for Global Justice is the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which has shared staffers with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to multiple Washington Examiner reports.

Israel’s government in 2021 designated Samidoun as a terrorist group and PFLP “subsidiary,” according to documents. PayPal closed accounts for both Samidoun and its coalition member Collectif Palestine Vaincra in recent years following reporting on their Palestinian terror ties. Alliance for Global Justice also sponsors the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, a pro-Palestinian group that the Democratic fundraising giant ActBlue recently booted off its platform.

Alliance for Global Justice says it sponsors 130 projects, but its website page to view them now directs to a “404 error,” as of this writing, the Washington Examiner found. Other projects it has sponsored in the past included the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel and Lajee Center, whose director has posted videos on social media seemingly depicting Palestinian civilians and children violently clashing with Israel’s military.

Deluxe closed Alliance for Global Justice’s account on Tuesday and left a voicemail notifying the charity, Negrin said.

“Honestly, it’s just our values,” he told the Washington Examiner. “Our values are about trust and doing the right thing. That is obviously relevant here. When something comes across like this, it’s an easy call to say this is not in line with our values or way of thinking.”

The move by Deluxe also comes the same day as Zachor Legal Institute, a pro-Israel think tank, sent a Tuesday letter to the company asking that it urgently review its relationship with Alliance for Global Justice. The think tank told the company it would be in contact with the IRS and Treasury Department “to inform them that Deluxe is now processing payments that fund foreign terror organizations.”

Zachor Legal Institute alleged in the letter that Alliance for Global Justice appears to be providing material support to terrorism in violation of federal law, thus possibly implicating companies processing payments for the charity. Deluxe has processed less than $200 in donations for the nonprofit group, according to Negrin.

“We also call on the Biden administration to take action against faux humanitarian groups that take advantage of loopholes in the terror-financing sanctions system by updating the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list to include those entities that are fundraising fronts for terror groups,” CEO Marc Greendorfer of Zachor Legal Institute told the Washington Examiner.

Meanwhile, Samidoun and Collectif Palestine Vaincra have continued since the Israel-Gaza war broke out last weekend to participate in pro-Palestinian rallies. Samidoun on Oct. 8 posted pictures on social media of activists giving candy to protesters in Berlin to celebrate the deadly Hamas attack launched one day earlier, resulting in Germany’s government banning Samidoun, Reuters reported.

Over 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the Hamas attack, while the terror group alleges the death toll in Gaza is close to 3,000. Thirty U.S. citizens have died in connection to the attack, while 13 are unaccounted for, according to the U.S. government.

“The entire problem is that ‘Israel’ is upholding ‘its values’ — that is, colonialism, genocide and Palestinian death and dispossession,” Samidoun posted on X on Sunday. “Those are in fact the ‘values’ of Zionism being upheld here, and the ‘values’ for which all of the imperialist powers are vowing allegiance.”

Samidoun on Oct. 14 shared a conspiratorial pro-Hamas post by a self-described “anti-Zionist Israeli” named Miko Peled that said, “Zionists keen to downplay Palestinian fighters abilities, latest rumor: Israel knew about the attack & let it happen. I’ve said this once, I’ll say it again: Palestinian fighters are superior to Israeli soldiers, they’ve proven it before and now they’ve proven it again!”

Alliance for Global Justice did not reply to a request for comment.

IRS spokeswoman Karen Connelly declined to comment, telling the Washington Examiner the agency can’t speak publicly about “investigations contemplated, in progress, or completed.”

Original Washington Examiner Article: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/alliance-global-justice-loses-fundraising-company-deluxe.

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Germany’s Siemens Facing American Scrutiny for Agreeing To Boycott Israel

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Germany-based conglomerate Siemens agreed to boycott Israeli products to secure a $360 million deal to provide Turkey with high-speed trains, according to copy of the contract obtained by a pro-Israel watchdog group that contradicts months of public denials from the company.

The agreement, which includes a signature and seal from Siemens, has a provision that “providers of goods and works, and their associates and subcontractors, shall be in strict compliance with the Boycott Regulations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the League of Arab States, and the Organization of the African Union.” The Organization of the Islamic Conference enforces a boycott of Israel.

The news could raise legal issues for Siemens in the United States, where multiple states have instituted financial penalties for companies that participate in anti-Israel boycotts. The Zachor Legal Institute, the watchdog group that obtained a copy of the contract, said it has added Siemens to its list of scrutinized companies.

“Although modern-day Siemens has expressed regret for their use of forced labor during the Nazi regime, this new evidence of boycotting Israel indicates that this company is still willing to prioritize profits by engaging in economic warfare, this time against the Jewish State of Israel,” said Ron Machol of the Zachor Legal Institute.

New York and Arizona officials told the Washington Free Beacon they are looking into the allegations to see if any action is necessary under the states’ anti-boycott laws.

Siemens has for months denied a report by German media outlet Südwestrundfunk that the company signed on to the anti-Israel provision as part of the $360 million Turkish railway deal in 2018.

“Neither Siemens AG nor Siemens Turkey signed a boycott declaration in 2018 in connection with the tender for high-speed trains,” said Florian Martini, a spokesman for Siemens, in February.

Siemens spokesman Wolfram Trost sent the Free Beacon an identical statement when asked this week about the contract. He declined to comment when asked if Siemens agreed to comply with the boycott regulations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, as stated in the contract.

The Zachor Legal Institute said it has raised the matter with several state law enforcement bodies. At least 36 states have laws or orders opposing the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Some of these laws limit government-related business with companies that boycott Israel, such as public pension fund investments or contracting work.

Arizona has been one of the most active states on this issue and has blacklisted 19 companies, including Unilever, Danske Bank, and SNS Bank. State treasurer Kimberly Yee (R.) told the Free Beacon that the state doesn’t have any investments with Siemens but that her staff will “monitor the allegations raised on this issue to see what actions, if any, are necessary.”

“The Arizona Treasury diligently follows our state’s anti-BDS law,” said Yee. “When credible evidence exists that a company is in violation of Arizona law, our staff investigates the issue and then takes appropriate steps.”

New York, which holds investments in Siemens through its state pension fund, said it is also looking into the issue. Matthew Sweeney, a spokesman for New York comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (D.), told the Free Beacon that the office is “aware of the published reports and will be looking into the matter according to our regular review process.”

DiNapoli previously warned companies that “there will be consequences if their anti-Israel activities expose our investments to financial harm.”

Click to read Washington Free Beacon original article.

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News channel Al Jazeera is slammed for ‘flouting’ government orders to register as a foreign agent of Qatar, new report finds

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A new Zachor Legal Institute report has slammed news channel Al Jazeera for ‘flouting’ government orders to register as a foreign agent of Qatar.

The Department of Justice found in September 2020 that Al Jazeera was ‘controlled and funded by the Government of Qatar’ – an oil-rich Middle East nation with controversial ties to terror groups.

The department ordered the channel’s Washington DC-based subsidiary AJ+ to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a law put in place to monitor foreign nations’ influence operations in the US.

The report accuses Al Jazeera of using its TV network ‘to promote and/or whitewash the Muslim Brotherhood and an array of Islamic terrorist groups, such as Nusra Front (formerly known as Qaeda of Syria), the Taliban, Hamas, and Hezbollah’.

It describes AJ+’s content, which has achieved ‘17 billion collective views’ on social media as ‘propaganda’, ‘anti-American, anti-West, anti-Israel, divisive’, and targeted at ‘young, progressive Americans’.

Al Jazeera describes itself as an ‘independent news organization funded in part by the Qatari government’, which broadcasts to an estimated 430 million households in over 150 countries.

AJ+ says it is a ‘unique digital news and storytelling project promoting human rights and equality, holding power to account, and amplifying the voices of the powerless.’

The report is the latest salvo in a battle for influence between pro-Israel groups such as Zachor, and pro-Qatar organizations which are often intensely critical of the Jewish Middle Eastern country.

Zachor’s report called for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok to label AJ+ content as ‘state-affiliated media’, to warn users of the organization’s Qatari ownership and control.

‘Due to AJ+’s explicit links to Qatar and the nature of the content it disseminates, the US Department of Justice issued an official order in September 2020 for AJ+ to register as a foreign entity under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Yet, as of March 2023, AJ+ has failed to register, despite repeated requests by lawmakers that the DOJ compel it to do so,’ the report said.

AJ+’s parent company, Al Jazeera Media Network, is owned by QMC, Qatar’s official state broadcaster, controlled by the country’s Emir.

Al Jazeera’s board is chaired by Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thali, a member of the Qatari royal family.

The 47-page Zachor report highlighted the channel’s apparent promotion of Islamic extremists.

‘For many years, Muslim Brotherhood religious leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi had a weekly program on Al Jazeera Arabic, where he advocated for terrorist attacks on US soldiers in Iraq, promoted Jihad against the West, and praised the Holocaust and attacks on Israeli civilians,’ the institute said.

It pointed to a January 23 op-ed on Al Jazeera’s website by the Iranian foreign minister claiming that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organization, is a ‘leading counterterror force’.

The report said Al Jazeera describes leaders of US-designated terror groups as ‘martyrs’, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Bahaa Abu al-Ata.

In 2022 the channel aired an interview with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who ‘threatened to abduct additional Israeli soldiers to hold as bargaining chips against Israel’ during the sit down broadcast by Al Jazeera.

Marc Greendorfer, founder and president of Zachor Legal Institute, said AJ+ is a ‘tool for Qatari propaganda’.

‘Our extensive research exposes Al Jazeera’s AJ+ as no more than a tool for Qatari propaganda targeting young Americans,’ he told DailyMail.com

‘The DOJ should swiftly compel AJ+ to abide by U.S. law and register under FARA. Failure to do so would signal that Qatar can operate within the U.S. media market with complete and utter impunity.’

Michigan Republican US Congressman Jack Bergman of Michigan told DailyMail.com the Zachor report was ‘disturbing’ and described Al Jazeera as a ‘thinly veiled influence operation’.

‘This report provides even more disturbing evidence that Al Jazeera is not an independent media outlet, but rather a thinly veiled influence operation to advance the interests and radical views of the Qatari government and royal family,’ he said.

‘All Americans should be concerned how this arm of Qatar’s government is using Al Jazeera to spy on members of Congress and hide intelligence operatives in plain sight in the US Capitol’ asking for Al Jazeera to be scrutinized under FARA regulations and accusing the channel of being used by the Qatari government to ‘incite violence, glorify terrorists as “martyrs,” and broadcast hateful, extreme content’.

House representatives wrote again to then attorney general William Barr in June 2019 and August 2020. A month later the DoJ issued an order for AJ+ to register under FARA within 30 days.

Al Jazeera hit back, claiming the order was wrangled by lobbyists for the United Arab Emirates, Qatar’s regional rival, and has yet to register, despite further concerned letters to the DoJ from senators.

AJ+’s social media following includes 11.55million on Facebook, 1.25million on YouTube, 1.2million on Twitter, 913,000 on Instagram and 317,000 on TikTok – with about 8million likes since its launch, according to Zachor.

The Zachor report comes as lawmakers are proposing a bill to limit foreign government-owned news organizations from using Capitol Hill press passes as a potential spying tool.

The bill, introduced by Bergman this month, would prevent state-sponsored media from getting press credentials for Capitol Hill unless they are in compliance with FARA and other laws.

It would limit any state-sponsored news organization to 10 Hill passes, and requires FBI background checks for all applicants from those outlets.

A statement from Bergman’s office about the bill warned that Al Jazeera has more media passes for Capitol Hill than any other media organization, allowing dozens of their reporters access to areas off-limits to the general public.

‘Despite Qatar’s brazen defiance of U.S. laws, Al Jazeera in the 118th Congress had 136 press credentials—far more than the 82 issued to the New York Times,’ Bergman’s statement said.

‘The spy balloon recently launched over the continental United States was only one of many examples of Chinese government espionage and surveillance targeting Americans. Yet, as noted in the bill’s findings, more than two dozen credentials were issued in the 118th Congress to media outlets that are registered under FARA as Chinese agents and another 16 credentials were issued to media outlets owned and/or controlled by senior officials in the Chinese Communist Party.

‘The possibility is all too real that foreign intelligence services could use their propaganda arms to hide intelligence operatives in plain sight in the U.S. Capitol.’

Al Jazeera did not respond to DailyMail.com’s requests for comment.

Original Daily Mail article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11888793/Al-Jazeera-slammed-flouting-government-orders-register-foreign-agent-Qatar.html.

zachorlegal

Map of military bases, police stations has ‘hallmarks of Iranian terror’

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(March 1, 2023 / JNS) The “Mapping Project” that launched last summer, identifying locations of Jewish and pro-Israel entities in Massachusetts, as well as law-enforcement sites, drew widespread condemnation, including for being “another example of old-fashioned Jew-hatred using a modern platform.”

A new report from the Zachor Legal Institute think tank suggests that Iran is connected to the project, which maps not only Jewish sites, but also 271 police stations, nine military bases and installations, in addition to Homeland Security, FBI and Secret Service offices and sites connected to weapons manufacturers with ties to the U.S. government.

Another 17 U.S. nongovernmental organizations have endorsed the report, according to a Zachor release.

The report “argues that the outsized focus placed on the American security apparatus indicates that the map is not domestic in origin, but might be a product of a foreign agenda and that the chief suspect is the Islamic Republic of Iran,” per the think tank.

Zachor added that Iranian state-run PressTV has praised the “Mapping Project,” which has collaborated with JISR Collective, which has ties to the Iranian government.

“There is no logical explanation for why the map was published other than to serve as a kill list for extremists to use when targeting United States’ national security infrastructure and prominent Jews in America,” stated Marc Greendorfer, president of Zachor.

“One only needs to look at the increasingly frequent violent attacks against law enforcement, homeland security and Jews in the United States to see that whoever is behind this project is trying to promulgate violence to promote an anti-American agenda,” he added. “We believe that this has all the hallmarks of Iranian terror.”

Click here to see article on JNS.