The investigation by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (published by the New York Sun) into the Ford Foundation’s funding of anti-Israel radicals seems to be paying off:
When the Ford-funded anti-Israel Web site, www.palestinereport.org, deleted its “armed revolution” pages and its direct links to the Web sites of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad–steps taken after JTA published its investigation–Ford officials declined to acknowledge the change or their role in it.
A staffer at www.palestinereport.org said, “Ford’s Cairo office called and insisted we remove the links at once because of the funding articles–and the problems with the Congress was the reason. We redesigned the entire site without those links.”
Congress and Jewish groups are insisting on more than cosmetic changes: They want the funding to stop.
The groups funded by Ford have refused to sign a Certification Regarding Terrorist Financing, a pledge required by Usaid, which affirms that no funds have made or will make their way into organizations to “advocate or support terrorist activities.”
“A note of reality crept in when Ford saw that the JTA information was credible and the facts against them were solid,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents. “We are seeing the first signs of change, but they are still funding these same organizations. That is a matter of concern and hopefully we will see a change.”
The following day the foundation announced it would work to make sure it did not fund anti-Semitic and anti-Israel activities (though a Sun editorial noted that, given its past history, “Any suggestion that the Ford Foundation was surprised by the kind of charges the JTA raised is poppycock.”)