After more than a year of T’ruah supporters asking JNF-USA to commit to the #MosesStandard (full transparency about where their donor dollars go), they have released a list of projects for the first time as part of their 2014 tax returns (beginning on p. 45 of the return).
Here’s what we learned: in the most recent tax year, JNF-USA reports raising $195 million dollars from U.S. donors. Of this, approximately $27 million went in grants to Israel. Most of these grants support praiseworthy projects–including support for children with disabilities, innovations in agriculture and water, and playgrounds and sports facilities in low-income towns inside of Israel. We congratulate JNF-USA for their commitment to projects such as these.
And here’s what else we know: More than half a million dollars went toward the Gush Etzion Visitors’ Center, an institution in the West Bank that promotes and defends Jewish settlements; $145,000 went to the Society of Friends for the Preservation of Historical Sites, which supports sites on both sides of the Green Line; $250,000 went to Face of Israel, whose Facebook page consists primarily of attacks on Israeli human rights organizations. JNF also sent $33,000 to Friends of Ir David, which supports evicting Palestinians from East Jerusalem and moving settlers in during the dead of night in order to create facts on the ground that will prevent a peace agreement.
Here’s what we still don’t know: Did the $293,000 to JNF-KKL for afforestation stay within the Green Line, or did any of these funds support settlement development? Does the $950,000 for Nefesh B’Nefesh, which helps Jews make aliyah, support settlement in the West Bank? On its list of recommended communities for new immigrants, Nefesh B’Nefesh makes no distinction between those located inside of Israel and those located in the West Bank. And there is the matter of more than $120,000 in “general donations,” with noindication of where this money goes.
Thanks to T’ruah supporters, we now know much more about what happens to the coins our children drop in the blue boxes to support Israel