Biden administration funding mass protests in Israel

 

A senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration said that the mass protests against potential reforms to Israel’s judicial system are being partially funded by the American government.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity to Hebrew-language news outlet Zman Israel on Friday, the official said that “this protest is financed and organized with millions of dollars.”

He added that the protests, which have seen hundreds of thousands of demonstrators block traffic and march through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on a weekly basis, are being funded from a central source.

“This is a very high-level organization. There is an organized center from which all the demonstrators branch out in an orderly manner,” the official said. “Who finances the transportation, the flags, the stages? It’s clear to us.”

Though the official did not explicitly name the Biden administration or the U.S. as the source of the funding, other senior figures have said they believe American money is fueling the protests.

Netanyahu’s son recently tweeted a link to a Breitbart article which linked the U.S. State Department with a major organizer of the protests.

That Breitbart article heavily referenced a Washington Free Beacon report which claimed that U.S. taxpayer funds are being provided to the Movement for Quality Government (MQG), an NGO that is promoting the demonstrations.

“The State Department, which confirmed the funding, calls the group a nonpartisan organization, but its work opposing Netanyahu raises questions about how the group was able to obtain U.S. funding,” the Washington Free Beacon report notes.

“The United States typically avoids funding foreign partisan groups to avoid claims of political meddling.”

Rep. Jim Banks (R – IN), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the Free Beacon that he was concerned about the funding to MQC.

“The State Department should never fund foreign partisan organizations in allied democracies,” he said.

“If the shoe was on the other foot, the Biden administration would accuse Israel of interfering in our elections. Congress should absolutely review the State Department’s potential funding of partisan politics in Israel.”