How Taxpayer Funds Are Flowing to a Group Bankrolling Anti-Netanyahu Protests

According to Israeli authorities, the U.S. government funneled taxpayer money to the left-wing group that was funding protests against Benjamin Netanyahu’s prime ministership. funding documents Reviewed by Washington Free Beacon.

These documents show that Foggy Bottom had sent more than $38,000 to Movement for Quality Government, (MQG) in 2020. Israeli nonprofit stoking Protests have been held nationwide against Netanyahu clash Contact the police target Netanyahu’s family members. MQG wants to take down Netanyahu’s government because he supports major reforms for the Israeli supreme Court that would substantially limit its power. This organization petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court decided to expel Netanyahu in January, declaring that Netanyahu is not fit for office because of ongoing investigations into allegations regarding political corruption and corruption.

Although the State Department confirmed funding for the group, it calls them a nonpartisan group. However, its opposition to Netanyahu raises doubts about the way the United States was able fund the group. To avoid accusations of political meddling, the United States usually avoids funding foreign parties. MQG had been the driving force behind anti-Netanyahu demonstrations long before that. It was known as an influential critic of the Israeli right which, for decades, has seen Netanyahu its leader. Given the Biden administration’s chilly diplomatic relationship with Netanyahu—which includes repeated criticism of Israeli settlement construction and the decision to launch an unprecedented FBI probe into Israel’s anti-terrorism operations—the U.S. funding to MQG has come under new scrutiny.

“The State Department should never fund foreign partisan organizations in allied democracies,” Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), told the Free Beacon. “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.”

The State Department downplayed its funding for MQG and would not answer questions about whether U.S. funds could have been diverted to the organization’s anti-Netanyahu activities.

“The State Department has provided small grants to the Movement for Quality Government, including a grant signed in 2020 during the previous administration and continued under the Biden administration that focused on teaching civic education and supporting good governance,” An official from the State Department told The Free Beacon. In September 2022, the last tranche was granted. This money was to go towards democracy education programs within the Israeli schools system.

MQG is described as such by the State Department “a respected, independent, non-partisan, grassroots non-governmental organization committed to promoting values of democracy, transparency, good governance, and civic participation.”

Since 2020, the United States has provided financial support to the group. It was close to Trump’s end. A former top U.S. official with knowledge of the situation said that it was most likely approved by State Department career officials. The small sum likely did not go unnoticed and could have been blocked by Trump’s political appointees.

 Gerald Steinberg, founder and chief monitor of NGO Monitor (which tracks these issues), stated that the State Department often allows grantees who receive money to self-report their use. “Few if any funders even attempt to monitor the actual use of grants,” He said.

Steinberg has been following closely MQG activities and noted this. “if a foreign government had funded a similar NGO operating in the United States, the Biden administration would have taken immediate action.”

According to grant information, MQG was granted grants ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The State Department was the sole foreign donor for each year.

The majority MQG receives its funding from membership fees and donations by charities. It claims it “is not willing, by principle, to receive any assistance from the governmental system,” However, it does not contain a similar ban on foreign government financing.

MQG has not responded to the aforementioned inquiry. Free Beacon Comment about the use of U.S. dollars

Israeli political observers raised questions about whether funding from the United States is fueling opposition against Netanyahu’s government.

“The Movement for Quality Government has worked for decades to subvert Israeli democracy,” Caroline Glick (Israel-based political pundit) who is the original raised questions About State Department funding for this group, in a column published last month by the Free Beacon. “It is a slap in the face of the Israeli public and an expression of contempt for Israeli democracy that the State Department is funding this radical group.”

The State Department was criticized in the past for supporting foreign organizations that were opposed to Netanyahu.

The State Department was dissolved during Obama’s administration. caught deleting Emails that revealed it had funded OneVoice Movement, an anti-Netanyahu propaganda group at that time.

Also, the Biden administration has come under fire The Justice Department has been pushing anti-Israel agendas. It announced last year it was conducting an FBI investigation into Israel’s accidental shooting of an American reporter.