by David Ben-Basat
Anyone who thinks that a Palestinian state will solve the conflict is mistaken and guilty of self-deception.
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The October 7 massacre was a catalyst that led radical left-wing groups in the United States and Europe to emerge from obscurity, spreading their venomous, vitriolic antisemitic hatred of Israel and Jews under the guise of “enlightenment and fighting against injustice and discrimination.” Unfortunately, some Jews are significantly contributing to spreading these lies and distorting the truth.
Antisemitic poison is disseminated via pro-Palestinian groups and nonprofit organizations. A few months ago, the New York Jewish Week published an article about pro-Palestinian organizations and their sources of funding. One of these organizations is led by an Orthodox Jew named Howard Horowitz, who once lived in Israel and collaborated with left-wing organizations there. He claims to be embarked upon tikkun olam (repairing the world). These groups protest global warming and, of course, Israel.
Tracking all the sources of funding is difficult, as some of these groups are funded through a small, lesser-known organization in Westchester led by Horowitz. He chairs the Westchester Peoples Action Coalition (WESPAC). While he initially condemned the October 7 massacre and claimed to support non-violent protests, his stance quickly shifted to supporting pro-Palestinian organizations.
Horowitz wrote to New York Jewish Week that the financial sponsorship aligns with WESPAC’s mission to support “those who would otherwise be the unrecognized victims of war, injustice, and environmental degradation.” He said that the group’s peace and justice mission “aligns with ours” and that “their principles of non-violence align with ours.
WESPAC’s office is in White Plains, and its roots are in the anti-Vietnam War protests and the Civil Rights Movement (CRM), said Horowitz, who joined the group in the 1970s, after living in Jerusalem and on a kibbutz. Living among secular Israelis was a change for Horowitz – who grew up in an Orthodox family in New York – leading to another shift in his views. He became disillusioned with Israel, which was moving toward a right-wing ideology at the time – especially regarding its policy toward Palestinians.
“My Zionist faith was broken by the historical facts,” Horowitz explained, noting that his opposition to Israel has continued since its establishment, following the UN vote recommending the partition of the land into separate Jewish and Palestinian states.
“The partition plan robbed the Palestinian population of their homes, livelihoods, and land,” he wrote. Using the term “Nakba,” that Palestinians use to refer to the establishment of Israel, he added, “It was the Nakba.”
Horowitz’s pro-Palestinian stance is echoed by WESPAC’s executive Director, Nada Khader, who has Palestinian roots and relatives in the West Bank and Israel. According to reports, WESPAC has long campaigned in support of Palestinians and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
One of the main channels through which WESPAC supports pro-Palestinian activities is via financial sponsorships.
Sponsoring anti-Israel groups
In a 2022 report, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) stated that WESPAC provided sponsorship to 15 groups related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – more than for any other cause. It is unclear how many groups it sponsors, overall. In 2021, the last year for which financial information is publicly available, WESPAC spent $750,000 on donations and grants; and held assets of $1.05 million. Its revenues include money that WESPAC receives through its financial sponsorships.
Doug White, a philanthropy advisor, and author of five books on nonprofit organizations, explains that financial sponsorship leaves “many legal gray areas,” as the organizations involved are not required to disclose their relationships and transactions. “There really isn’t a statutory way to track the money that ends up in the hands of these Palestinian groups,” White said. “As a result, you rely on good practices.”
ANOTHER GROUP, the “US Campaign for Palestinian Rights” (USCPR), is funded by Jewish billionaire George Soros.
Soros and his organization pay funds to radical, anti-Israel organizations that fuel hatred and encourage protests on campuses across the US. They are funded and organized by branches of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), supported by Soros and other anti-Israel organizations.
Over the past 20 years, SJP has successfully built a dense network of about 200 chapters across American academia. Comprised of local students, these operate as modern guerrilla groups to promote pro-Palestinian causes.
Another organization is Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), founded by American Jew Noam Chomsky. In an interview with journalist Ran Edelist some 10 years ago, Chomsky said, “I didn’t think Israel would become a Judeo-Nazi state, but something similar is happening now.”
His radical organization supports boycotting Israel, backs military draft refusal, calls Israel a fascist state, and views itself as advocating for peace and social justice. One of the sources of funding for terrorist organizations is advertisements on their websites, without the advertisers being aware. Algorithms developed by Internet giants direct advertisements to sites of hate and terror organizations with millions of followers.
The Jewish-Arab conflict over the Land of Israel began with the end of Ottoman occupation in 1917 and the beginning of British occupation in 1918. The Palestinian Arab National Movement began to grow, viewing the land as Arab territory. Then, as now, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is primarily ideological and religious – and it began long before the state of Israel’s establishment in 1948.
Anyone who thinks that a Palestinian state will solve the conflict is mistaken and guilty of self-deception.
David Ben-Basat is CEO of Radios 100FM, honorary consul general of Nauru, deputy
dean of the Consular Corps, president of the Israeli Radio
Communication Association, and vice president of the Ambassadors Club.
Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-817020
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