Wednesday, March 10, 2010
[Crossposted from JStreetJive with additional material.]
When we did our original analysis of The Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston cash grants to organizations that demonstrated extreme animus towards Israel (Guess Who's Dining at CJP's Trough?, What We Should Expect From CJP) -- and in some cases -- advocated the dissolution of the Jewish State - we missed possibly the most extreme, anti-Israel group of all - The Haymarket People's Fund. This group maintains an extremist agenda against Israel.
The Haymarket People's Fund has bankrolled the Somerville Divestment Project (SDP) for years. They have tried in vain to convince the voters of that city close to Boston to:
Reduce the military and political support given to Israel by the U.S. in order to end the military occupation of Palestine and instead have their country support human rights of Palestinians including the Right of Return. They use grassroots organizing and education to advocate for human rights of all Palestinians.
One of the founders of the SDP was one Ron Francis (no longer in New England), an Andover High School teacher whose virtual every waking moment was spent in demonizing and attempting to harm Israel.
Most shockingly of all, while the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council was participating in the campaign opposing the Somerville Divestment Project, its parent, the CJP, was funding (most likely, indirectly) the SDP through the Haymarket grant! Even if the grant was earmarked for another Haymarket project, the overall, intensely anti-Israel nature of the charity should have been recognized. After all, no mainstream Jewish philanthropy would fund Hamas' "social service" wing and then claim that no money was given to the "military" wing.
Of course, we don't believe that CJP is anti-Israel. They fund and organize wonderful and indispensable programs in Haifa and other Israeli cities. They support strongly pro-Zionist organizations directly and through their Donor Advised Funds as we have noted. They were instrumental in defeating the SDP ballot initiative.
But who's minding the store at 126 High Street? Spending roughly one minute googling Haymarket People's Fund will reveal their extreme, anti Israel agenda. Funding an organization like Haymarket is beyond the pale. Can you imagine the NAACP funding a white supremacist organization?
SDP Rally in Boston
CJP has to get its act together. The donor guidelines we suggested in a previous posting should provide a basis for ensuring that the organization is not working at cross purposes. Donors who wish to channel their charitable contributions through CJP to groups like Haymarket must be informed about their lethal goals or have their offers rejected.
Here's a short video of the kind of activities CJP should not be funding, even indirectly or inadvertently:
Martin Solomon adds: Charles Baker, Republican candidate for Governor, was caught up in a controversy over his firm's charitable contributions that included a much smaller contribution to the Haymarket People's Fund and, in turn, the SDP: MA Governor Candidate Haunted by His Foundation's Donations. The linked article is now offline, but here's the operative section:
...The foundation gave $200 in 2006 to the Haymarket People's Fund, an "anti-racist and multi-cultural foundation" that in turn gave $12,000 in grants to the Somerville Divestment Project. That group opposes what it describes as "Israel's military occupation of Palestine."
On its Web site, the Somerville group calls Israel's policies toward Palestine a "genocide" and a "holocaust." The site also features a cartoon depicting a mother and child emblazoned with the words "Gaza" being stalked by a jack-booted, sword-toting Israeli soldier pushing a Star of David with shark teeth...
I mention this to show that the Haymarket/SDP connection is an odious enough association that even the non-Jewish media consider a much smaller contribution problematic.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Combined Jewish Philanthropies: Worse Than Originally Suspected... [Hillel].
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/17613
You've been reading it here and at JStreetJive. Now readers of Boston's print paper, The Jewish Advocate, are getting an eye-full of the news of CJP's funding of controversial groups (Once again, those previous posts are: Guess Who's Dining at... Read More
As if the Boston CJP/JCRC follies over their on again-off again support for Israel weren't bizarre enough (see here, here and here), we now have a story of unrequited love. In its inexcusable funding practices (via a CJP Donor... Read More
I guess that part of the problem when you have anti-Israeli organizations hiding their real purpose or where money is going and coming from.
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SMASH the Islamofascist Solidarity Movement!
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Everyone in Boston, including 126 High Street, knew as early as 2005 that Haymarket People's Fund was the main funding source of the Somerville Divestment Project. Being one of the most antisemitic local groups, SDP was even too extreme for Sabeel (that must tell you something) which ban an SDP representative from the speakers panel at its Boston conference at the Old South Church. Yet, CJP continued to give cash grants to the Haymarket People's Fund? Throw the rascals out.