The Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ), a U.S.-based NGO, announced on Tuesday that they have been blocked from receiving credit card donations. These sanctions were introduced by multiple credit card companies due to AfGJ’s financial support of the Israeli-designated terrorist group Samidoun.

As a result of these restrictions, “AfGJ cannot accept credit donations—and neither can the 140 organizations that rely on AfGJ to provide them with fiscal sponsorship,” according to the NGO.

The announcement comes after a year-long campaign by the Zachor Legal Institute focusing on shutting down the fundraising abilities of U.S. charities with ties to terror.

“We are delighted that the first of the major American charities fundraising for terrorist organizations is now unable to collect credit card donations. Money is the lifeblood of terror organizations, and drying up their resources will make it impossible for them to carry on business as usual,” said Zachor Legal Institute representative Ron Machol.

Samidoun was designated a terrorist organization by former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz due to its links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is considered a terrorist organization in the United States, Canada, Israel and the European Union. According to the Israeli National Bureau for Counter-Terror Financing, Samidoun plays a leading role in the PFLP’s anti-Israel propaganda efforts, fundraising and recruiting activists. The organization has been engaging in delegitimization activities against Israel in the United States, Canada and Europe, and was behind the recent violent protest against Israel’s ambassador in Spain.

Samidoun advocates for the release of terrorists. The group organized a protest in Grand Central Station in New York City to demand the release of Palestinian terrorist Ahmad Sa’adat, who is currently serving a 30-year prison term in Israel for his involvement in the planning of the 2001 murder of Israeli Cabinet member Rehavam Ze’evi. The group also calls for the release of Ahmad Manasra, a Palestinian teenager serving a prison term in Israel for the attempted murder of an Israeli youth, as well as other convicted terrorists.

Several prominent members of Samidoun are also members of the PFLP. The chief coordinator of Samidoun, Khaled Barakat, is a senior member of the PFLP and the head of the PFLP abroad. The organization’s international coordinator, Charlotte Kates, is also a PFLP member.

According to Samidoun’s website, the organization demands the “liberation of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.” Samidoun members have openly praised terrorists and their actions, and have openly called for terror attacks in Israel. Some members have also made anti-American and anti-European statements at demonstrations, calling for the “destruction of western colonialist world order.”

Samidoun’s funding strategy was originally based on direct donations. However, the slow exposure of their links to terror groups over the past few years caused major credit card companies to slowly restrict Samidoun’s activities. In 2019, Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Discovery, Paypal and Donorbox began limiting Samidoun’s financial services after learning of their connection to the PFLP. By 2020, Mastercard, Visa and American Express had fully removed the option to directly donate to Samidoun, forcing them to switch to a fundraising strategy based on donations from parent charity NGOs such as AfGJ.

According to the Zachor Legal Institute, since 2020, much of the funding for Samidoun has been going through AfGJ, a purportedly “anti-capitalist” and “progressive” charity. Furthermore, according to Zachor, the AfGJ recently facilitated a campaign for Barakat that intended to provide him with money for his lawsuit against Germany. The anti-Israel activist was barred by Germany from entering the country because of his alleged ties to terrorism. AfGJ has also fundraised for Collectif Palestine Vaincra (CPV), a French member group of Samidoun which notably coordinated with the PFLP in 2021 to raise money for an “indoctrination” camp for children in the Gaza Strip, according to NGO Monitor, an Israeli watchdog group.

In January 2023, Zachor Legal Institute submitted a complaint to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against Samidoun and AfGJ. Zachor alleges that Samidoun is using the AFGJ platform for fundraising activities for PFLP operatives, as well as for their French affiliate CPV. Zachor claimed that these activities enable tax-deductible donations to designated foreign terrorist organizations. In its complaint, Zachor Legal Institute stated, “It is clear that Samidoun and CPV are each an alter ego of the designated terror organization PFLP, and AFGJ’s activities in support of PFLP violate 501(c)(3) rules on unlawful activity, including violations of 18 USC 2339B, for providing material support to a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization.”

The complaint followed a letter that Zachor Legal Institute sent to the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting an investigation into Samidoun and other non-profit organizations that solicit funds for terror organizations.

Many experts have commented that AfGJ’s affiliation with Samidoun puts it at serious legal risk. Anne Herzberg, a legal adviser to NGO monitor, said that AFGJ opens itself up to “liability and risk” by fundraising for CPV. Attorney and founder of Zachor Legal Institute Marc Greendorfer told JNS, “We further believe that under applicable U.S. law, AfGJ should be civilly liable for aiding and abetting foreign terror groups.”

Members of the U.S. Congress have also voiced their criticism as evidence of AfGJ’s terror affiliations came to light. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a member of the Israel Allies Caucus, said that organizations working with the PFLP “should be ashamed of their malicious and antisemitic actions. Furthermore, any organization that is discovered to be providing aid and comfort to terrorist organizations should be held fully accountable and brought to justice.”

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Published by JNS: https://www.jns.org/american-terror-supporting-ngo-exposed-cut-off-from-funding/

Is Generation Woke responsible for antisemitism? – opinion

Who are the social justice warriors, and how do Jewish students fight against campus antisemitism at universities.

For better or worse, much of the burden to remedy the hostile campus climate falls on the Jewish students in Generation Woke correctly recognizing the progressiveness of Zionism and the State of Israel. By speaking the language of young and idealistic student activists, they can begin improving the situation on the ground.

So, to the Zionist Jews of Generation Woke, we challenge you: call out the next false post a peer uploads on social media about Jewish people and Israel; ask where the antisemites get their funding and organizational assistance, and stand up to biased professors on campus and reach out to organizations like Zachor Legal Institute and Zachor on Campus when you need help for the backlash you may receive. It will not be easy, but it would do wonders for Jewish students who have been silenced for too long. There are many resources available to Jewish students in their fight against campus antisemitism, and it is progressive Jewish students who must wear their identities proudly and recruit non-Jewish students in this true social justice movement, to ensure this is the last generation that has to fight for basic rights on campus.

Lizzy McNeill, who made Aliyah in 2018 and served in the IDF, is the Director of Zachor on Campus. Marc Greendorfer is the President of Zachor Legal Institute.

Original JPost Article.

By Marc Greendorfer

The allegation that Western countries are rife with systemic discrimination appears in virtually every discussion of race and ethnicity, especially in the United States.  While there is no question that there has been discrimination in the United States, the days of it being a consequence of institutionalization by government are in the distant past.  There is but one exception today: the indoctrination of students by activists who are supported by powerful teachers’ unions and administrators.

In particular, there is a move to teach students an ethnic studies curriculum designed by the same people who promote the boycott, divest, and sanction movement.  This credo wrongfully (and unlawfully) alleges that Jews are white supremacists who have colonized distant lands in violation of the rights of indigenous populations.

I am the son of a Holocaust survivor, and most of my mother’s family was slaughtered in Europe.  Our presence in Europe was the direct result of thousands of years of discrimination and ethnic cleansing by, among others, European and Arab invaders who conquered and occupied our homeland of the land of Israel.  The idea that we are white supremacists is the ultimate expression of blaming the victim and ignoring documented history.

More important, though, is the damage done to Jews by antisemitic activists who have successfully brainwashed a significant swath of America that Jews are equivalent to Nazis and Klansmen.  Worse, progressive activists in populous states like California are now indoctrinating young minds with Marxist ideology, teaching students that Jews are a monolithic people who have stolen land from an indigenous population in the Middle East.  These impossibly illogical claims even circulate among members of Congress.

I recently finished a law review article, to be published in a peer-reviewed journal in the near future, titled “The True History and Legal Meaning of Colonialism in the Holy Land: The 2042 B.C.E. Project,” as a counterpoint to the disinformation and abject historical revisionism being pushed on students by progressive activists.   This article explores the history of Jews and Judaism in the Middle East and provides a detailed examination of how Jews are the sole surviving indigenous population in the land of Israel.  In researching this article, I was surprised to discover the extensive history of cultural appropriation of Jews, primarily by Muslims but also by other foreign populations.

For example, I learned that when Mohamed founded Islam, hundreds of years after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, he chose the Jewish city of Yathrib to start his religion.

Yathrib, a historic Jewish city that was home to Jews who were displaced from the land of Israel during the Roman invasions, was chosen specifically because of its large and longstanding Jewish population.  Today, Yathrib is called Medina in Saudi Arabia.

From Yathrib, Mohamed and his forces began an imperialist campaign to conquer other Jewish communities and sites, ultimately resulting in the occupation of Jerusalem and the desecration and appropriation of the most holy of Jewish sites and the genocide of Jewish populations across the region.  In fact, the practice of setting up garrison settlements in foreign lands (Amsar), a classic example of colonialism, became common and was instrumental in the rapid spread of Islam.  As Islam matured in the years following the death of Mohamed, it became a more distinctly colonial system, uprooting the traditional social and political structure of numerous small, sovereign tribes and replacing it with a centralized structure where the caliph, and his affiliates, were the primary source of governance and control.

Will students who are forced to learn ethnic studies be taught of this history?  As it stands now, not only will students not be taught about the history of the Jewish people and our homeland, but they will also, instead, be taught a series of lies that strip Jews of our history and rights and deem the occupiers (Palestinian Arabs) as the occupied.  If the proposed ethnic studies programs are implemented, an entire generation of young people will be taught that Jews are modern-day Nazis, and Jewish students will be forced to repeat propaganda that undermines their entire ethnicity.

So not only will Jews have been subjected to ethnic cleansing in their homeland, but we will also have our ethnic identity erased.  For those who say “there should be a law against that,” there is: the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  History shows that Jews are the indigenous people of the land of Israel, and the current attempt to deny us our inherent rights is nothing less than the continuation of the ethnic cleansing campaign that originated with the Babylonians and continues today with Palestinian Arabs and their supporters.

That positive treatment of the historic ethnic cleansing of Jews, and overt incitement to continue it today, will now be part of the curriculum for many American students is an even greater crime.

Original Article Published in American Thinker.

As horrible as discrimination is, it is even worse when it is mandated by the government, which is exactly what a proposal by the University of California (UC) currently under consideration by the UC Academic Senate would result in if adopted.

The University of California is considering a proposal that would have the effect of not only requiring students to be indoctrinated in bias but also subjecting those students to a program that delegitimizes their very existence.  The proposal is one that on its face is innocuous, but it is designed to ensure that one group that has a long track record of promoting antisemitism may be in charge of creating and helping to implement a course in ethnic studies that will become a requirement for admission to California’s flagship university system (one that is paid for by California taxpayers).

While forcing students to learn to hate themselves is reprehensible as a matter of policy, we believe it is also a violation of the First Amendment.

Many families in California expect that their children will have an opportunity to attend a UC campus and, in fact, admission to a UC campus is a legal right for each student in the top 9% of their class.  The proposed new admissions requirement for the University of California, however, will require that each prospective UC student complete a high school ethnic studies course that will likely be in line with a model curriculum that is openly antisemitic. As a result, California high schools are expected to require completion of this curriculum, including private Jewish schools.

This will force parents to make a choice for their children: give up the right to attend the University of California or be subjected to a program of delegitimization and hate so they can realize the benefits of the UC system.

Under a legal theory known as the unconstitutional conditions doctrine, this kind of choice is patently unconstitutional.

An unconstitutional condition exists where “government offers a benefit on condition that the recipient perform or forego an activity that a preferred constitutional right normally protects from government interference.”

All three basic elements of this doctrine are met by UC’s ethnic studies proposal:

First, there must be someone or something (such as a governmental entity, like a state, or a corporate entity) with rights protected by the Constitution. Second, the government has to choose to provide a benefit where it is not otherwise required to do so.  Finally, the government must condition the provision of the benefit on the rightsholder waiving its right.

In the case of the ethnic studies proposal, it’s clear that the unconstitutional condition is most applicable to situations where Jewish private schools, particularly those that include instruction on ethnic and religious identity and pride, will be forced to include teaching that is dictated or guided by a group promoting antisemitism.

Many parents choose private schools specifically to ensure that their children have a positive sense of identity and knowledge of their backgrounds, as well as the best education in traditional topics, with the additional goal of qualifying for admission to the University of California system. The ethnic studies proposal is a regulation that will impact hardest ethnic and religious minority groups, especially those with a lower income, as the University of California system often represents the only affordable option for quality higher education. It would be difficult to find a more pernicious abuse of governmental power.

The imposition of unconstitutional conditions by government, especially on a critical right such as higher education, is a fundamental attack on the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

The proposed ethnic studies requirement is a textbook example of an unconstitutional condition. Parents hold the right to provide an education for their children (and private schools hold the right to determine what they teach), the government benefit is taxpayer funded higher education available to all state residents (including a guarantee of admission for the top 9% of students) and the government will condition the government benefit on the students being indoctrinated in materials that strike at the heart of their identities, in violation of the First Amendment’s guarantees with regard to expression and religion.

The ethnic studies proposal is meant to remedy what some see as a system that has institutionalized discrimination. There are many ways to combat such discrimination, but state-mandated discrimination must not be one of them. 

Marc Greendorfer is the President and co-founder of Zachor Legal Institute, a non-profit civil rights advocacy organization combating discrimination.

Original Article in Jewish Journal

(June 6, 2021 / JNS) Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters prevented the unloading of an Israeli container ship from Asia at the Port of Oakland, Calif., on Friday, with the cooperation of the local longshoremen’s union, which refused to unload the vessel.

The protest was sponsored and organized by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), a pro-Palestinian BDS group operating in the Bay Area.

In a Sunday Facebook post, the group, which claimed “thousands” streamed to the protest throughout Friday, praised International Longshore and Warehouse Union (“ILWU”) Local 10, which it said had “honored the six simultaneous community pickets during both the morning and evening shifts, and did not work the ship.”

“Knowing that it could break neither our blockade nor the workers’ demonstration of solidarity, in a dramatic move, community members watched as the Israeli apartheid-profiteering ship left the port of Oakland! #BlockTheBoat #BDS,” said AROC.

The Zachor Legal Institute, which combats BDS and anti-Semitic organizations in the United States, told JNS that by refusing to unload a ship with perceived Jewish ownership, the members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 had engaged in an “unlawful secondary boycott in violation of longstanding National Labor Relations Act rules.”

“Local 10 has a history of these types of violations, and members of the union have openly supported the terror-backed groups promoting the boycotts,” said Zachor.

In a May 16 letter to the president of Local 10, Zachor said the boycott “is being promoted by a foreign organization” whose members include known terror groups, among them Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

“[Y]et Local 10 cooperated with the racist boycott despite knowing of its illegality and discriminatory intent,” said the group.

The Israeli ship, the ZIM Volans, originally intended to dock in Oakland the week of May 17, but then turned towards Los Angeles, according to AROC’s website. At some point, for reasons that aren’t clear, it again made for Oakland.

The last time an Israeli ship attempted to dock at the Port of Oakland was in 2014. The ship, the ZIM Piraeus, was met by protesters who physically threatened warehouse union workers and blocked their vehicles, according to reports at the time. The protesters succeeded in driving the ship from port.

In the wake of their success in Oakland, pro-BDS activists called for a June 6 boycott of the ZIM Tarragona, scheduled to dock in the Port of New York and New Jersey on Sunday.

JNS Article: https://www.jns.org/pro-bds-group-blocks-israeli-ship-from-unloading-in-oakland/