Hypocrisy on the left over pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel charity groups

A bill to give the president unprecedented power to shut down any nonprofit organization aligned with federally designated terror-supporting organizations passed in the House of Representatives last week on its second attempt, and now moves on to the U.S. Senate.

The bill deserves to die, but it already has exposed the hypocrisy with which New York's left fringe views pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups.

The crux of the legislation known as HR 9495 focuses on organizations with federal tax-exempt (nonprofit) status, and could encompass political nonprofits, media, colleges and universities, and civil liberties organizations. It would provide the Treasury Department with the authority to strip nonprofit status from any organization that falls into this category, without taking them to court first.

There are already legal mechanisms in place to ensure organizations that provide material support to terrorist organizations are subject to scrutiny and sanctions. Last month, the Treasury Department sanctioned Samidoun, one of the most aggressive groups involved in campus protests, and listed it as a terrorist group for supporting Hamas. HR 9495 would go further, giving the Treasury broad power to shut down any tax-exempt organization on the basis of an ambiguous "supporting."

While rules around nonprofits need tightening, and HR 9495 seems like the ideal avenue to clamp down on nonprofits like the Westchester-based People’s Action Coalition Foundation, which funds pro-Hamas and pro-”globalize the intifada" organizations, the expansiveness when it comes to speech and political activity leaves these proposed statutory changes vulnerable to abuse and exploitation for political agendas. As awful as it can be to experience, hate speech is protected speech.

The far left in New York vehemently opposes HR 9495, calling it authoritarian and saying it's aimed at Palestinian groups.

But when it comes to Jewish groups, they’ve been singing a different tune.

In 2023, socialist Assemb. Zohran Mamdani, now a New York City mayoral candidate, proposed similar legislation targeting Jewish organizations in New York. Mamdani’s Not on Our Dime Act would strip funding for New York charities found to be "providing unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity" and would allow the state attorney general to impose civil penalties for violations.

Again, ambiguity is present. "Settlement activity" can be broadly defined to include anything related to support of the State of Israel. For example, if a synagogue sent care packages to an Israeli Defense Forces unit that patrols the border of the West Bank, or held an ambulance fundraiser for the emergency medical service provider Hatzolah United, which coordinates with the IDF, would they be at risk of legal liability? Under this expansive legalese, where the definition of a settlement is vague and open-ended, the answer, of course, is yes.

Local socialists were unified and forceful in their support for Mamdani’s bill, and even brought Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to a news conference to encourage members to support this legislation in the State Legislature. Their need to highlight certain Jewish charities as being "exempt" was less than reassuring regarding their intent.

If progressives believe HR 9495 is a dangerous policing of speech and assembly, supporting the equally ambiguously worded Not on Our Dime Act is shamefully hypocritical. Even after a crushing electoral refutation of progressive ideology, the far left is still doubling down on prioritizing ways to single out and malign the Jewish community.

This guest essay reflects the views of Sara Forman, executive director of the New York Solidarity Network, which works to support state and local candidates for public office who value the American alliance with Israel.