Democratic aide: Probe a 'bone' to PM ahead of election

GOP-led House panel launches probe of umbrella group that backs Israeli progressive causes

Republican lawmakers allied with Netanyahu claim New Israel Fund may have violated tax-exempt status, citing grant it made to organization that bussed Arabs to polling stations

A pair of Republican-controlled congressional committees have launched an investigation into the New Israel Fund, claiming the umbrella body that helps bankroll progressive Israeli organizations may have engaged in illegal electioneering against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan and House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith penned a letter to the acting chairman of NIF on Thursday informing the group of the investigation into whether it had violated its tax-exempt status as a US-based charity “by providing millions of dollars in funding to groups that engaged in political campaign activities in the 2019 Israeli elections.”

The allegation is partially based on $356,000 that NIF provided in grants to an Israeli organization called Zazim, which operated a transportation system that helped bring Bedouin voters to polling stations in order to cast votes against Netanyahu in the 2019 election.

The lawmakers don’t explain how they know who the Bedouin voters would have voted for, but it appears to be in line with Netanyahu’s own election-day warning that his continued rule was at stake because left-wing organizations were bussing Arabs to the polls. He later apologized for the comments, which were roundly accused of being racist.

Jordan is a close ally of Netanyahu, and a Democratic congressional aide told The Times of Israel that the investigation is an attempt to “throw a bone” to the Israeli premier ahead of the upcoming election in Israel.

Another claim made in the letter is against the NIF-funded Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), which argued before the Israeli Supreme Court against the appeal of far-right candidate Baruch Marzel who had initially been disqualified from running in the 2015 elections due to alleged racist incitement against Arabs.

This charge, too, against NIF appears thin, given that non-profits across the political spectrum have long sought to limit the electoral prospects of politicians they deem unfit.

Moreover, the Republican lawmakers are regurgitating a case against IRAC that was already dismissed by a New York state court after the parties agreed to disagree on the matter.

Lastly, the letter to NIF flags $95,000 that it gave in grants to Adalah, a human rights and legal aid organization. The Republican lawmakers note that Adalah provided legal representation for the Joint List — “an alliance of Arab parties that centered their campaign around ousting Prime Minister Netanyahu in favor of his opponent, Benny Gantz.”

But the letter doesn’t prove that the NIF grant was earmarked for election work, that the grant was actually used to pay for legal representation of the Joint List — which faced right-wing efforts to disqualify its candidates — or that the representation itself constituted a prohibited political campaign activity.

Jordan and Smith ordered the NIF to hand over by July 23 “all documents and communications referring or relating to any grants, cooperative agreements, or other awards that New Israel Fund provided” to Adalah, IRAC, Zazim and eight other progressive groups that it supports.

The letter appears to be an extension of Jordan’s efforts to target progressive groups in Israel. Last year, he accused the Biden administration of backing the protest movement against Netanyahu’s effort to radically overhaul the Israeli judiciary, pointing to grants given by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to groups that later got involved in the anti-government demonstrations.

The allegations against the Biden administration were championed earlier by right-wing publicist Caroline Glick, who went on to become a foreign policy aide in Netanyahu’s office.

Given that the legal case against NIF appears thin, the practical implications of the Republican-led investigation may be limited to the seizing of its documents, but may well have a chilling effect.

“NIF will not be deterred in our work to defend democracy, promote equality, and advance peace in Israel,” New Israel Fund CEO Mickey Gitzin said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “And we will stand firmly for the right of Jewish Americans to express their views, and their first amendment rights through their philanthropic support of any and all charitable institutions in Israel and the United States.”

“NIF adheres fully to both US and Israeli law as it relates to our charitable work and status,” Gitzin added. “That has always been the case and continues to be.”

Gitzin said the US House letter was “drawn heavily from a lawsuit filed against NIF that was dismissed in the Southern District of New York in 2021, and wherein the State of New York declined to intervene.”

“NIF believed then, as we do now, that these allegations entirely lack merit,” Gitzin said.

US Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat on both the House committees aiming to investigate NIF, sharply criticized the probe.

“This is outrageous behavior by Chairmen Jordan and Smith, and the Republican majority,” Nadler tweeted. “The New Israel Fund is a venerable and cherished organization. They are at the heart of the American Jewish community and support organizations that are the conscience of Israel’s democracy.”

“Those seeking to undermine democracy on both sides of the ocean seem now to have found common cause. All people of good faith must rise up and oppose this ridiculous and meritless inquisition seeking to eviscerate American Jews’ fundamental First Amendment rights,” Nadler added.