The New York Sun continued with the last three installments of a four-part Jewish Telegraphic Agency series on how Ford Foundation money has been going to Arab groups who support terrorism and the destruction of Israel. Here’s a taste from the Tuesday, Oct. 21 installment:
In May and June of this year, USAID informed American tax-exempt charities it funds that if they partnered with any Palestinian NGOs [Non-Governmental Organizations], those NGOs would be required to sign a Certification Regarding Terrorist Financing. The certification pledges that no funds have made or will make their way into organizations to “advocate or support terrorist activities.”
The Palestine NGO Network, or PNGO, an umbrella group of 90 Palestinian organizations that is funded in part by the Ford Foundation, was outraged. On July 12, PNGO published a statement declaring: “Some donor agencies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are setting unacceptable conditions for providing financial support to Palestinian NGOs. Such conditions include a pledge titled ‘Certification Regarding Terrorist Financing’…”
PNGO program coordinator Renad Qubaj complained in a telephone interview, “Who defines what is terror? All funds received by the NGOs should be unconditioned–no political conditions.”
Another Palestinian NGO railing against the terrorist certification was the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, which has received three Ford Foundation grants totaling $350,000, according to foundation records. In late August, Al Mezan’s director was quoted in the Arabic press as stating: “There is no legal basis for this document. This document should be boycotted, including the local authorities, political parties, and universities. These institutions should reject this document completely, as it puts them in great danger. We should publicize a list of any institutions that agree to the conditions in the document.”
…PNGO steering committee member Allam Jarrar said that although many of the umbrella group’s members depend upon USAID for funds, PNGO itself gets much of its money from Ford, and “Ford does not make us sign this agreement. For us, Ford is a very credible organization.”