At last! Thanks to the Supreme Court we now have a tool to prosecute people in the United States who are financing terrorism in the Middle East.
You may have heard of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project.
Under the law,
The Supreme Court, in one of its last decisions this term, held that Americans who provide aid to organizations that engage in terrorist activities can be criminally prosecuted for violating this law, even if the assistance they provide is designated to support humanitarian, not terrorist, activities.
This week the Times published an investigation of American assistance to terrorist activities in the Middle East, but I suspect we won't be seeing prosecutions any time soon.
A New York Times examination of public records in the United States and Israel identified at least 40 American groups that have collected more than $200 million in tax-deductible gifts for Jewish settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the last decade. The money goes mostly to schools, synagogues, recreation centers and the like, legitimate expenditures under the tax law. But it has also paid for more legally questionable commodities: housing as well as guard dogs, bulletproof vests, rifle scopes and vehicles to secure outposts deep in occupied areas.
That's right: Americans are getting tax deductions for giving money to support the terrorist activities of the Israeli government: building settlements in occupied territories and maintaining what Jimmy Carter has rightly characterized as a system of apartheid in the occupied territories.
So tell me: Is the United States really opposed to terrorism, or do our allies get a break on that?
We know who's making the contributions because they're claiming an income tax deduction. Somehow, though, I suspect we shouldn't hold our breath waiting for the first prosecution.
This was a big story for the NYT. Can’t imagine the flack they’re getting from staunch Zionists and other like-minded individuals. Regardless of those people, it’s important to get the word out about this double standard which you just raised. Thanks!
…and to changing that situation is where energy could be most effectively directed.
Criminalizing contributions? I don’t see that ever getting past “judicial review” even if the Secretary of State had the temerity (nevermind the means) to isolate those funding channels as “terrorist organizations.”
Efforts to enable those settlements are just plain wrong; and contrary not only to our own national interests, but also to those of Israel. Unfortunately the instability that they engender in the region serves a whole host of cynical agendas by international operators who have no real interest in Middle East peace.