J Street questions charities that help settlers

J Street launched a campaign last week calling for an investigation into American charities that fund Israeli settlement activity. The agency wants the Treasury Department to look into whether organizations named in a July 6 New York Times report have broken the law.

The report identified more than 40 U.S. organizations that have collected more than $200 million in tax-deductible gifts for schools, synagogues and recreation centers in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.

The organizations support Jewish settlements in the West Bank and receive tax breaks from the U.S. Treasury.

Some of the settlements are seen as illegal by the international community; others are viewed as illegal by Israel’s government.

“With the explicit goal of undermining a two-state solution, many of these groups raise tax-deductible contributions from the United States to deepen the occupation in the Occupied Territories,” said the

J Street appeal. “Some even fund settlement outposts that the Israeli government considers illegal.” — jta