The impending eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood has prompted Palestinian rights activists to call for more scrutiny into how tax-exempt US-based charities – and the private firms that donate to them – are funding Israeli settlement activity that is widely seen to violate international law.
US-funded settler groups have long viewed Sheikh Jarrah as a future home for Jewish families and pushed for the removal of Palestinians who have lived in the area for decades.
The expected expulsions from the historic neighbourhood are at the centre of the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Activists say the evictions are made possible largely thanks to private US funding, with non-profit groups enjoying tax-free status that effectively amounts to a generous subsidy from the federal government.
“Without the donations, [these groups] don't exist,” said Hagit Ofran, who heads the settlement watch team at Peace Now, an Israeli non-governmental group.
The UN has repeatedly called for Israel to halt its settlement activity in the Palestinian territories, including in East Jerusalem.
The forced transfer of a “protected population under occupation is a grave breach of Article 4 of the Geneva Convention of International Law,” said Michael Lynk, the UN special rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
"It may well amount to a war crime under international law," Mr Lynk told The National.
Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian-American political analyst and non-resident fellow at the Arab Centre think tank in Washington, believes the US government should crack down on non-profit groups funding Israeli settlers.
"If people were using charitable organisations as a way to support war crimes overseas in any other context, I think our government would probably take serious steps to prevent that from happening," Mr Munayyer told The National.
"We need an approach from the government that says American tax dollars and our charitable mechanisms should not be used" to support settlement activities, he said.
“That's really the least we should expect from a responsible administration.”
Currently, four Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah risk losing their homes to Jewish settler groups after a long-running legal battle.
Nahalat Shimon International, the organisation leading the legal fight for settlers, is owned by a company registered in Delaware, US.
US citizens are major contributors to what rights groups call Israel’s “illegal expansion” into territory that would go to Palestinians in a two-state solution.
According to a 2015 report in Israel's Haaretz newspaper, from 2009 to 2013, US-based charities donated more than $220 million to Israeli settlement organisations.
Peace Now said Israel has built more than 55,000 housing units in East Jerusalem since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, when the Israeli military occupied the area.
Meanwhile, Israeli law makes it extremely tough for Palestinians, who consider East Jerusalem the capital of their future state, to build homes.
The Israeli government has only allowed the construction of 600 housing units – and those were all built in the 1970s, Peace Now said.
The Central Fund of Israel, a US-registered non-profit organisation that is exempt from federal income tax, gave more than $36m to various Jewish charities and causes in 2019, according to its financial information disclosure that year.
The organisation, which has an address in Cedarhurst, New York, is listed as the US charity for tax-deductible donations by the Israel Land Fund, a real estate company that buys up land in East Jerusalem.
CFI president Jay Marcus said it does not fund settlement activity.
It gives money to charities "all around the land of Israel without discrimination", he said.
"CFI's criterion is only that the charities are worthy and they are registered charities in Israel and CFI does not discriminate or favour based on location," Mr Marcus told The National in an email.
He did not immediately respond to a query about CFI’s connection to the Israel Land Fund.
Headed by Jerusalem's deputy mayor, Arieh King, the ILF's mission statement is to "reclaim the land of Israel for the people of Israel".
Its website lists land it wants to buy in Sheikh Jarrah, which it refers to by the Hebrew name of Nahalat Shimon. The company calls these “ideology properties".
Since its creation in 1948, Israel has used an absentee property law to claim land that had been owned by Palestinians who fled the newly founded state.
The Israeli government has continued to use the law to obtain properties in East Jerusalem.
On the ILF's website, it claims it is running “critically low” on funding and asks for donations “to help us fulfil the commandments; help bring Jewish land back to the Jewish people".
The US charity has significant backing from major donors, including Cherna Moskowitz, the widow of the late Irving Moskowitz, an American billionaire physician and businessman who was one of the leading funders of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The Cherna Moskowitz Foundation gave just over $3m to the ILF in 2018 – the fund's second-largest contribution.
In addition, the Irving Moskowitz Foundation gave $2.1m.
Ms Moskowitz also gave $50,000 to American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, a US-based charity established to fund the Israel-based non-profit Ateret Cohanim, which buys land in East Jerusalem with the purpose of installing Jewish tenants in the area.
The National tried to contact Friends of Ateret Cohanim for comment but did not hear back in time for publishing.
The National also called the number listed on the Cherna Moskowitz Foundation's tax forms.
The person who answered did not identify herself but said she worked for a company affiliated with the foundation and was not in a position to comment.
Ateret Cohanim’s stated goal is to “fulfil a generations-old dream of rebuilding and securing a united Jerusalem, strengthening our Jewish roots and re-establishing the once thriving Jewish communities that were destroyed by Arab pogroms".
The organisation's purchases have been focused in and around the Old City.
The US arm of the non-profit is run by Susan Hikind, the wife of Dov Hikind, a former New York state politician.
One of the largest funders of settlement activity in East Jerusalem is the Israel-based Ir David Foundation, often referred to as Elad.
According to its website, the foundation “is dedicated to the preservation and development of the Biblical City of David and its environs".
In practice that means purchasing land from Palestinian families and in the past two decades, the group has bought dozens of Jewish homes in East Jerusalem and developed archaeological sites in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan.
The foundation is funded in part by the US-based non-profit Friends of Ir David. Among the charity’s top donors are the Cherna Moskowitz Foundation and the Koum Family Foundation.
According to Friends of Ir David’s most recent tax returns, which are publicly available, the Koum Family Foundation donated $3m in 2018.
The Koum Family Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Jan Koum, the Ukrainian-born American co-founder of the mobile messaging application WhatsApp.
When reached by phone, Moshe Billet, the executive director of Friends of Ir David, declined to comment.
US Internal Revenue Service rules prohibit tax-exempt charities in the US from funding activities "that are illegal or contrary to public policy".
Mr Lynk, the UN special rapporteur, said there has been little enforcement of the rules when it comes to Israel, even though the US – alongside countries like Canada and Britain – has stated opposition to Israeli settlements.
“In Canada and the United States, charitable organisations have been allowed to maintain their status and have been able to use tax laws to be able to raise money to be able to further the Israeli settlement project,” Mr Lynk said.
“We've yet to see a decisive decision in either the courts of these countries or by changing legislation to make more definitive restrictions on these organisations.”
However, some of the pro-Israel non-profits have claimed they have been discriminated against by the IRS.
In 2010, the Z Street non-profit that claims to “educate Americans about the Middle East” sued the IRS for delaying the approval of its tax-exempt status. The organisation in 2018 won its case, along with an apology from the IRS for taking so long to grant the approval.
Lori Lowenthal Marcus, Z Street's founder, wrote in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal which stated that under the Obama administration, the IRS was unfairly scrutinising charities with links to Israel.
The US State Department and the IRS did not respond to requests for comment from The National.
UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Ahmed Raza, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Chirag Suri , Zahoor Khan
Company name: Farmin
Date started: March 2019
Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: AgriTech
Initial investment: None to date
Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs
Ballon d’Or shortlists
Men
Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool), Sergio Aguero (Aregentina/Manchester City), Frenkie de Jong (Netherlans/Barcelona), Hugo Lloris (France/Tottenham), Dusan Tadic (Serbia/Ajax), Kylian Mbappe (France/PSG), Trent Alexander-Arnold (England/Liverpool), Donny van de Beek (Netherlands/Ajax), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/Arsenal), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Germany/Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Juventus), Alisson (Brazil/Liverpool), Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands/Juventus), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands/Liverpool), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands/Liverpool), Bernardo Silva (Portugal/Manchester City), Son Heung-min (South Korea/Tottenham), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Roberto Firmino (Brazil/Liverpool), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria/Manchester City), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal/Napoli), Antoine Griezmann (France/Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Egypt/Liverpool), Eden Hazard (BEL/Real Madrid), Marquinhos (Brazil/Paris-SG), Raheem Sterling (Eengland/Manchester City), Joao Félix(Portugal/Atletico Madrid)
Women
Sam Kerr (Austria/Chelsea), Ellen White (England/Manchester City), Nilla Fischer (Sweden/Linkopings), Amandine Henry (France/Lyon), Lucy Bronze(England/Lyon), Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride), Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands/Arsenal), Dzsenifer Marozsan (Germany/Lyon), Pernille Harder (Denmark/Wolfsburg), Sarah Bouhaddi (France/Lyon), Megan Rapinoe (USA/Reign FC), Lieke Martens (Netherlands/Barcelona), Sari van Veenendal (Netherlands/Atletico Madrid), Wendie Renard (France/Lyon), Rose Lavelle(USA/Washington Spirit), Marta (Brazil/Orlando Pride), Ada Hegerberg (Norway/Lyon), Kosovare Asllani (Sweden/CD Tacon), Sofia Jakobsson (Sweden/CD Tacon), Tobin Heath (USA/Portland Thorns)
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The%20specs
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Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Healthy tips to remember
Here, Dr Mohamed El Abiary, paediatric consultant at Al Zahra Hospital Dubai, shares some advice for parents whose children are fasting during the holy month of Ramadan:
Gradual fasting and golden points - For children under the age of 10, follow a step-by-step approach to fasting and don't push them beyond their limits. Start with a few hours fasting a day and increase it to a half fast and full fast when the child is ready. Every individual's ability varies as per the age and personal readiness. You could introduce a points system that awards the child and offers them encouragement when they make progress with the amount of hours they fast
Why fast? - Explain to your child why they are fasting. By shedding light on the importance of abstaining from food and drink, children may feel more encouraged to give it there all during the observance period. It is also a good opportunity to teach children about controlling urges, doing good for others and instilling healthy food habits
Sleep and suhoor - A child needs adequate sleep every night - at least eight hours. Make sure to set a routine early bedtime so he/she has sufficient time to wake up for suhoor, which is an essential meal at the beginning of the day
Good diet - Nutritious food is crucial to ensuring a healthy Ramadan for children. They must refrain from eating too much junk food as well as canned goods and snacks and drinks high in sugar. Foods that are rich in nutrients, vitamins and proteins, like fruits, fresh meats and vegetables, make for a good balanced diet
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Greenwood 77')
Everton 1 (Lindelof 36' og)
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
MATCH INFO
Sheffield United 3
Fleck 19, Mousset 52, McBurnie 90
Manchester United 3
Williams 72, Greenwood 77, Rashford 79
FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
HOSTS
T20 WORLD CUP
2024: US and West Indies; 2026: India and Sri Lanka; 2028: Australia and New Zealand; 2030: England, Ireland and Scotland
ODI WORLD CUP
2027: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia; 2031: India and
Bangladesh
CHAMPIONS TROPHY
2025: Pakistan; 2029: India
Final scores
18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)
- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)
-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)
-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)
-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)
-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)
FIRST TEST SCORES
England 458
South Africa 361 & 119 (36.4 overs)
England won by 211 runs and lead series 1-0
Player of the match: Moeen Ali (England)
The years Ramadan fell in May
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
Tomb%20Raider%20I%E2%80%93III%20Remastered
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The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Donating your hair
• Your hair should be least 30 cms long, as some of the hair is lost during manufacturing of the wigs.
• Clean, dry hair in good condition (no split ends) from any gender, and of any natural colour, is required.
• Straight, wavy, curly, permed or chemically straightened is permitted.
• Dyed hair must be of a natural colour
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20CarbonSifr%3Cbr%3EStarted%3A%202022%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Onur%20Elgun%2C%20Mustafa%20Bosca%20and%20Muhammed%20Yildirim%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Climate%20tech%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%241%20million%20raised%20in%20seed%20funding%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
HOW DO SIM CARD SCAMS WORK?
Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.
They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards, often by claiming their phone has been lost or stolen
They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
The specs: Fenyr SuperSport
Price, base: Dh5.1 million
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm
Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km
More on Quran memorisation:
Fight Night
FIGHT NIGHT
Four title fights:
Amir Khan v Billy Dib - WBC International title
Hughie Fury v Samuel Peter - Heavyweight co-main event
Dave Penalosa v Lerato Dlamini - WBC Silver title
Prince Patel v Michell Banquiz - IBO World title
Six undercard bouts:
Michael Hennessy Jr v Abdul Julaidan Fatah
Amandeep Singh v Shakhobidin Zoirov
Zuhayr Al Qahtani v Farhad Hazratzada
Lolito Sonsona v Isack Junior
Rodrigo Caraballo v Sajid Abid
Ali Kiydin v Hemi Ahio
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
