Crowdfunding site IsraelGives allows US residents to donate millions to paramilitary groups, IDF units and settlers
  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4410·
    11 months ago

    They’re not just giving their money…

    A network of associated nonprofits – most of which count co-founder Jonathan Ben-Dor as an officer – allow tax deductions on donations to Israeli nonprofits for residents of the US, Canada, the EU, the UK and Australia. It also runs a donor-advised fund, a kind of nonprofit entity which have been widely criticized for, among other things, concealing flows of “dark money” to rightwing causes.

    It’s tax deductible so no loss of money to them, everyone else just gets proportionally less out of their tax dollars because American politicians won’t hold Israel to the same standard

    Legal experts say that some of these campaigns may be illegal under US tax law, but that this is rarely enforced on donors to Israeli causes.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        110·
        11 months ago

        Go back to defending trump running for president.

        I’ll go back to blocking people who think they’re smart. Big overlap with trump supporters for some reason

        • CrayonRosary@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          11 months ago

          For real, though. If the top-end of someone’s income is in the 28% tax bracket, and they donate $1000 to a qualified charity, then they get back the 28% tax they paid on that $1000, which is $280. They still donated $720 of their own money.

          I say “their own money” because you could argue that the $280 is “America’s” money, but it’s not. The person donating the $1000 effectively never earned that money. Giving to charity is like redirecting your pre-tax income to the charity, so you don’t get taxed on it since it’s now the charity’s money, and the charity doesn’t pay income tax. The $280 was money that the government had withheld because they didn’t yet know you were redirecting that income to charity.

          Also, it’s not cool to try to insult someone just because they criticized your comment. You need to keep an open mind. Especially since you were, in fact, wrong. You should only insult someone for being an asshole, or greedy, or racist, or a Trump supporter, etc., and not make yourself look like an idiot by assuming someone who points out your obvious error is a Trump supporter.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    7·
    11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The revelations come amid an escalating humanitarian crisis caused by IDF attacks killing civilians in Gaza, and mounting campaigns in the US to enforce laws that should prevent US non-profits from funding illegal settlements.

    On 13 October, Israeli human rights organization B’Teselem circulated a video of a settler from the community shooting a Palestinian man at point-blank range with an AR-style rile in the neighboring village of Tawani as an IDF soldier looked on.

    The Guardian contacted IsraelGives to ask if it was concerned about exposing international donors to legal liability, citing the Ma’on fundraiser as a specific example of, and founder and CEO Jonathan Ben-Dor responded in an email.

    Ben-dor said that the site supported “human and civil rights organizations, humanitarian aid projects, and movements for the promotion of democracy, alongside religious and educational activities – some leftwing, some rightwing (some Jewish, some Arab)”.

    Ben-dor wrote that the Ma’on campaign was “created automatically on our platform through a war-time program designed to provide emergency assistance to communities and families directly affected by the October 7th attacks”.

    However, she pointed to initiatives including the so-called “Not on Our Dime” bill, supported by CCR and other organizations, currently before New York’s state house, which “clarifies that funding Israeli settlement activity… is illegal”, according to a campaign website.

    The original article contains 1,414 words, the summary contains 216 words. Saved 85%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!