Report: U.S. tax breaks aiding illegal outposts in West Bank
Findings could embarrass Obama as he seeks to persuade Netanyahu to extend settlement building freeze, New York Times reports.
Tags: Israel news Israel settlements Barack Obama West BankU.S. Treasury tax breaks have helped West Bank settlers to receive $200 million in tax-free funding from American donors, according to a report published in the United States on Tuesday.
Differences in U.S. and Israeli law means it is easier to fund illegal outposts through donations from New York than from Jerusalem, according to an investigation by the New York Times.
 |
The West Bank settlement of Ariel |
| Photo by: Tess Scheflan |
An examination of public records in the United States and Israel pinpointed at least 40 American groups that have raised over $200 million in tax-deductible gifts for Jewish settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the past decade.
The findings could embarrass U.S. President Barack Obama, an outspoken opponent of Israel's settlement policies who is expected to use a Tuesday meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for a continued freeze on Jewish building in the West Bank.
According to the Times report, lenient American tax regulations allow funds to flow to settlement outposts that are illegal under Israel law – as opposed to larger settlement blocks that receive money from the Israeli government.
The result is that it is easier to fund outposts from the United States than from Israel, which over a decade ago outlawed tax breaks for contributions to groups devoted exclusively to settlement-building in the West Bank.
U.S. tax law applies to all nonprofit groups and there are Palestinian organizations that also benefit from U.S. donations, as does the Free Gaza movement, whose controversial aid flotilla was stormed by Israeli commandos a month ago. Nine activists were killed in the raid.
But the flow of cash to settler groups is particularly awkward for the Obama administration as it mediates renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Washington has refused to allow Israel to spend American government aid on settlements and some U.S. officials fear the consequences of being seen to fund them indirectly.
"It’s a problem,” one unnamed senior State Department official was quoted as saying, adding, “It’s unhelpful to the efforts that we’re trying to make.”
Daniel Kurtzer, the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005, said the issue was an unspoken source of embarrassment for American diplomats.
“It drove us crazy,” Kurtzer told the Times. But “it was a thing you didn’t talk about in polite company.”
He added that while the private donations could not sustain the settler enterprise on their own, “a couple of hundred million dollars makes a huge difference,” and if carefully focused, “creates a new reality on the ground.”
Israeli military commanders are also angry that U.S. funds are going to extremists groups whose leaders have urged resistance to any attempt to evict them.
“I am not happy about it,” a senior military commander in the West Bank.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
This financing is not just a violationof US tax laws but also a clear violation of the four Geneva conventions which forbid settling or transferring its own population on the conquered lands. Also facillitating this by financing this is a violation of the convention. The US tax laws allow funding tax free .for welfare purposes, NOT for political purposes like settling on the land of the Palestinian people. Because everybody should be well aware of the fact that the US is ignoring international law, nevertheless this taxfree funding is a violation of US tax laws.
Numerous articles have shown that sectors of the Israeli government are funding settlements that other sectors of the government have decreed are illegal. Either our leaders truly have no idea what is going on, or more likely, they are liars and cheats.
These are a threat to both Governments and Peace Process. This can open the doors to other groups with the same agenda but are against peace. The Israel Right and their Supporters have know excuses for this but to mention terror, Iran, and Hamas and any other unappealing terms to gain sympathy to ways to overtake the government and implement their terroristic ways in Israel
u.s funds israel.israel funds settlements.the buck stops there.
The settlements are nothing more than another form of terrorism. They strip Palestinians of their homes, farms, grazing lands, and livelihoods. The settlers further attack and terrorize Palestinians while the IDF ignores those attacks or imposes a convoluted process that makes it difficult for Palestinians to file complaints. I have been a witness to settler abuses in the West Bank and know the constant threat to Palestinians exists. The USA must not support terrorism by giving tax breaks to private USA donors that support settlements.
Please spare us. The Arabs terrorized the Jews long before 1967. LONG BEFORE. May there be another settlement built for every terror attack.
Neither Jewish, nor Arab.
I did not know that Palestinians gave zionists a permit to grab their lands!
This report was half written ultra-left isabel kershner formerly of leftist J.Report.
As a taxpayer - is it true or not? If true, it must be stopped today and the associations closed.
Why does the US allow money from the US to fund hate groups like "free Gaza", the PLO and Hamas? These are terrorist organizations and should have all funds frozen and confiscated.
The same reason that makes them send 3 Billion dollars to israel every year!
The residents in Eastern Israel are a worthy cause and a humanitarian issue. The donors are providing housing to Jews and this is illegal to tax. The US should be raising funds for these communities who are the world's first line of defense against Islamic imperialism and global terrorist jihad, not harassing them and finding illegal ways to tax humanitarian aid!
why does israel insist on asking the US to do all its bidding but kicks the US in the face. Obama is right. we cannot support a country with 3 billion a year, security and weapons yet they hate the US and show us no respect. let israel prove its worth of our support. Why special treatment for Israel. And they wonder why the world is 'against' them. Enough is enough!
which shows the grip aipac holds on the american political system. i guess polite is a stand in for corrupt.
It should not embarrass Obama. He should cut these tax-havens. They are well-known and as usual it was disingenuous of the NYT to write about it only now. It is no more embarrassing than all the US tax money which goes to support Israel's expansionist policies since 1967.
So says former Ambassador Danile Kurtzer. So, in other words, the US government knew about this more than $200M going to these illegal outposts, copntravening US foreign policy, and yet they did nothing because it would have been too "embarrassing" to bring it up or address it openly. Why is that and why did it take an investigative article in the NYTimes to expose it? We hope Obama will declare such transactions illegal and stop it and hold those groups engaging in this contravention of US policy held to account.
The USA only do what is "good" for them, nothing else. They play both sides: enabling them to do what they deem fine. At the end the result has always been the very same: they drop their 'friends"! Wake up, Israel.
Remember how Obama raged when an Israeli newspaper report coincided with Biden's trip to Israel? So now it seems the same thing has happened in the U.S.--coincidentally, I'm sure--when Netanyahu comes a-calling. A little Obama tit-for-tat?
This story was not only in the NY Times, but one of the major headlines of the day. Furthermore the article stated " HaYovel is one of many groups in the United States using tax-exempt donations to help Jews establish permanence in the Israeli-occupied territories — effectively obstructing the creation of a Palestinian state, widely seen as a necessary condition for Middle East peace." From this most prestigious of newspapers a very blunt statement indeed.
This story was not only in the NY Times, but one of the major headlines of the day. Furthermore the article stated " HaYovel is one of many groups in the United States using tax-exempt donations to help Jews establish permanence in the Israeli-occupied territories — effectively obstructing the creation of a Palestinian state, widely seen as a necessary condition for Middle East peace." From this most prestigious of newspapers a very blunt statement indeed.
...that this wasn't published to embarrass Obama, folks. (The fact is, most of the "tax breaks" have been "sheparded" into the US tax regs by various "special interest" groups.)
First you say that over the past decade settlers have recieved $200 million and then you make it seem that all the money has gone to illegal outposts. Why would you do a thing like that? It's as if you're just making a political statement and could care less if the readers know the facts. Nah... that can't be.
You just said that the article "makes it seem that..." What do you believe is the truth? There's nothing inconsistent about saying that "settlers have received $200 million" and then saying "all that many has gone to illegal outposts."
This has been well known and reported on by human rights groups for many years. All of a sudden, the New York Times publishes its own "investigation" with no acknowledgment whatsoever. It is nice to see, however, that opposing the occupation is becoming mainstream, to the point where establishment papers are now copying what human rights organizations and pro--Palestinian activists said ten years ago. It suggests that the status quo is shifting. The New York Times is useless as a source of information, but fairly useful as a barometer of elite public opinion, and if there recent coverage is any guide, such opinion is shifting against the occupation.
They have cowed the easily-cowed left-wing into finally supporting Palestinian racism and obstructionism. Personally, I wouldn't take the New York Times as a barometer of anything, and I'm a daily reader!
They have cowed the easily-cowed left-wing into finally supporting Palestinian racism and obstructionism. Personally, I wouldn't take the New York Times as a barometer of anything, and I'm a daily reader!
and yet the settlers still scream poor, how sad.
These are private contributions mostly from religious Christians that amount to $20 per person per year. Maybe you could buy a shower head with this money. As an American, tough to deny private citizens for legally supporting a good charity. The big problem is the millions that fund Hamas and Hezbollah, our enemies. Somehow the NY Times managed to completely ignore Americans giving money to people who have killed hundreds of Americans.
These are private contributions mostly from religious Christians that amount to $20 per person per year. Maybe you could buy a shower head with this money. As an American, tough to deny private citizens for legally supporting a good charity. The big problem is the millions that fund Hamas and Hezbollah, our enemies. Somehow the NY Times managed to completely ignore Americans giving money to people who have killed hundreds of Americans.
These are private contributions mostly from religious Christians that amount to $20 per person per year. Maybe you could buy a shower head with this money. As an American, tough to deny private citizens for legally supporting a good charity. The big problem is the millions that fund Hamas and Hezbollah, our enemies. Somehow the NY Times managed to completely ignore Americans giving money to people who have killed hundreds of Americans.
Ever seen a Settler ?? I'm positive you haven't because there's no luxury. Question, why do the Settlers live in gated, fortified communities, while the Arabs roam free without threat?? Doesn't that tell you who lives in fear and who is the blood-thirsty aggressor?? For you to suggest they live in luxury discredits everything you say.
Say do we go back to blaming Iran tomorrow?
Divide 200 mln $ by 550.000 settlers at 2009, divide by ten years. Now take on account that in 2000 the settlers' population was half of today's. As for shower heads: read Kurtzer's quote para 12. The sum we are talking gives roughly 30 residential buildings of 40 apts or significant public centers (and many more if taking on account the low local building costs). Of course, for some nuts it's "peanuts".
Yes, I've been to a settlement -- and to the Palestinian village whose lands were illegally appropriated so that settlement could be built. Homes with green lawns and a settlement with a swimming pool, while the Palestinians hardly have enough water to make visitors a cup of tea. They certainly don't have adequate water for normal daily household use or for agricultural purposes to tend their vines, fruit trees or various crops.
"Settlers live in gated, fortified communities, while the Arabs roam free without threat?? " ---------- Now you have some idea of the alternate mental universe where settlers live. There are 165 checkposts inside the WB manned by the IDF for the well-being of 305.000 settlers at grave expense of daily movement of 2 mln local Palestinians. How many Palestine-manned checkpoints there are to make the life of the WB settlers miserable? Regular raids, curfews, harassing ring the bell? "Gated, fortified communities"? Why, it's been a more than typical mode of being throughout centuries of the colonial history.
The checkpoints are necessary to prevent your buddies from using Jews as target practice. If you want the checkpoints removed, convince your buddies to live in this millennium instead of the 7th century. To shoot and kill an innocent citizen driving home to his family may be acceptable behaviour for you. Sorry, the threat of murder necessitates checkpoints. Better to be a live chicken.
One of the first steps in brokering the peace deal between the IRA and the UK was when the US stopped all funding to the IRA. Not only should tax breaks for funding settlement activity be stopped , but ALL US FUNDS directed at ALL settlement activity be stopped. All settlements are illegal according to both Israeli and International law.
Please explain to me how the communities in Judea and Samaria are illegal?
I'll explain to you: Judea and Samaria (a.k.a. the West Bank) are not part of Israel. Israel has never legally annexed them, and even if it did, it would be legally void, for it is illegal to acquire territory by means of war under International Law, which also states that occupying powers can't transfer its civilian population into the occupied territory, so these settlements are against International Law and thus ILLEGAL. Get it now?
because the legality has been decided by the highest International court and Israels supreme court or possibly because it is built on land aquired by war and private Palestinan land.I suppose the one state solution would solve loads of problems though
Because the settlers are stealing land that does not belong to them.
In a DEFENSIVE WAR, you faulty thesis is wrong. What prevents the Arabs from starting wars every month, knowing there's no price to pay for losing. just keep starting wars. Will you scream and shout when Israel loses land, too. Didn't think so, hypocrite.
Defensive/offensive - makes absolutely no difference. Annexation of land is illegal regardless. This is international law, not poker. Plus, if your talking about 67 - that wasn't defensive. Read a book.
you need to re-read the law your interpretation of international law is incorrect. you need to get it you Jew Hater
it was a defensive war, you need to read books that actually report the facts Why are you not screaming about the violation of international law by the recognized Hamas gov't, shooting rockets, kidnapping? Why? b/c you are a jew hater
Because they are on occupied land, and it's called the West Bank. There is something called the separation between church and state, you might wanna read about it.
They are not
They simply do not exist anymore! only in childish "fairy tales" books they exist.
any nation or region of laws - they are deemed illegal by the international community, no one thinks they are legal, not even the Israeli government really - these laws by the way were initially created post world war 2 when hitler attempted to reunite what he believe were lands that rightfully belonged to Deutscheland.
What prevents the Jews from expanding ever more or extending their hubris if there is no price to pay in Palestine or the world? If this is land won and part of Israel then why has not israel deemed it so? Why are not the 4 million Palestinians, almost 50 years later, not Israeli citizens with representation in the kesset?
our tax breaks, grants, "aid", "support", and weapons are also responsible for illegal occupation, an illegal nuclear weapon program, the deaths of thousands of lebanese and palestinian civilians (many from illegal materials), and--let's be honest--pretty much every bad thing israel is currently doing. we americans are the enablers here. it's sad.
You make it sound like Israel just wakes up in the morning to kill thousands of civilians. I know you and the other one-sided haters see it that way. What you fail to take into account EVERY TIME is the war Israel fights hourly and the backdrop to these defensive actions. Israel fights despotic regimes like Hamas and Hez, salivating to murder as many innocent Israelis as possible. These wars were started by these Arab entities, with Israel merely defending herself. These thugs don't shed a tear for their civilian casualties, so long as a Jew is murdered also. Be careful who you defend, and try to educate yourself before you post inaccuracies. BTW, there are no *occupations* from "defensive wars".
These sins can be partially washed away when the United States brings into being a fully sovereign contiguous Palestinian state in line with internationally recognized 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital.
Speak for yourself, dipwad! I support Israel. I slam O**** and his corruption like a bathroom door every time I walk past it just to keep the stink from his existance out of the rest of the house!