The Central Fund of Israel is an American non-profit association which funds projects in Israel, settlement projects in the West Bank including, according to

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

, Israeli pro-settler groups.

Uri Blau Uri Blau ( he, אורי בלאו; born 1977) is an Israeli investigative journalist writing for ''Haaretz'' newspaper and other publications. He is specialized in military affairs, corruption and "follow the money" investigations. Blau was convict ...

,
'Haaretz Investigation: U.S. Donors Gave Settlements More Than $220 Million in Tax-exempt Funds Over Five Years,'
Haaretz 7 December 2015. It is run out of the Marcus Brothers Textiles store on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Its director is Jay Marcus.

Itamar Marcus Itamar Marcus is a researcher and the founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch,Brown, 2003, p. 296. which studies Palestinian society by monitoring and analyzing the Palestinian Authority (PA) through its media and schoolbooks. His work o ...

is a former vice president of the fund

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. The fund also supports Women in Green and , the "legal rights group" that acted on behalf of the family of Netanel Arami, and which, according to '' Haaretz'', provides legal defense for "radical right-wing activists". There are financial links between the fund and Im Tirtzu, for whom it is the main channel for donations. In May 2021,

The Intercept ''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing news website founded by Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Laura Poitras and funded by billionaire eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar. Its current editor is Betsy Reed. The publication initially reporte ...

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."

Criticism

NYT "clearing house" report

The organization was among a number of US groups reported by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' as using tax exempt status to help fund the Israeli settlement project in the

occupied territories Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...

. ''

'' described the fund as a "prominent clearing house" used by dozens of

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

organisations as "a vehicle for channeling donations back to themselves" in order for donors to receive US tax breaks. The

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) states that it is "the largest Arab American grassroots civil rights organization in the United States." According to its webpage it is open to people of all backgrounds, faiths and ethnicities ...

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.

Other claims

The Central Fund of Israel funds right-wing Zionist organisations operating in the occupied territories. Funds were reportedly directed to the

Od Yosef Chai Od Yosef Chai, also known as Od Yosef Hai (Hebrew: עוד יוסף חי, Joseph still lives) is a yeshiva situated in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Od Yosef Chai includes several related institutions; a yeshiva high school, a yeshiva gedola ...

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 Sheikh Jarrah ( ar, الشيخ جراح, he, שייח' ג'ראח) is a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, north of the Old City, on the road to Mount Scopus. It received its name from the 13th-century tomb of Sheikh Ja ...

in 2017".

References

{{Reflist

External links

Published letter to ''The New York Times'' from the Central Fund of Israel director, Jay Marcus, in response to critical article (July 8, 2010)
Israeli-American culture in New York City Israeli-American history Jewish organizations based in New York City Non-profit organizations based in New York City Zionist organizations in the United States