Last update - 00:00 05/12/2007
Rightist Jewish organization told to reveal source of $7 million donations
By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent
The Elad organization that purchases property in Arab East Jerusalem for Jewish settlers has 21 days to reveal the identity of its donors.
In an ultimatum issued by the registrar of non-profit organizations, the registrar wrote that the information Elad had submitted regarding the source of its funds was "very odd." He added that if Elad failed to submit the required information, he would consider opening an investigation into the identity of its donors as well as imposing sanctions.
Elad has been operating in East Jerusalem for about 20 years. It has acquired a large number of properties in the village of Silwan, adjacent to the Old City, and manages the national park in the City of David on behalf of the state.
According to the registrar, the group is withholding information relating to five donations made by unknown companies in 2005, totaling $7 million. Elad told the registrar it only had the donors' addresses and that it was not obligated to divulge information as to their identity.
"Your response that you do not have the required information is very odd," Eli Goff, an accountant in the registrar's investigation unit, wrote. "The addresses of the donors as presented in your letter are very unclear, and you did not point out which organizations are involved or the countries in which they are registered."
Elad had revenues totaling NIS 41 million in 2005 - the last year it reported its figures to the registrar. Of this sum, NIS 38 million came from donations. The association gave the registrar a list of all donors who had given more than NIS 20,000, in keeping with a recently amended law designed to make donations more transparent.
According to the list, however, the lion's share of the donations - over 75 percent - came from five companies whose names were not familiar to the registrar.
Attorney Danny Zeidman, of the Ir Amim group that monitors Elad's activities, said that Elad's refusal to reveal its donors raised suspicions that "it receives funds from suspect sources and [that it] merits an investigation."
Elad claimed it had disclosed "the full extent of details as required by court rulings" and added that media coverage of the registrar's request has been "a false display of libel and gossip." The group would not say whether it intended to respond to the registrar's request.
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