Report: US Donors Gave $220 Million to Israeli Settlements

A new report from Haaretz reveals that, from 2009-2013, US donors gave at least $220 million to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a scheme that is run through scores of US-based nonprofit groups who accept the donations as tax deductible.

The money was largely sent to settlements as grants, allowing them to spend money on whatever they want, be it construction or legal aid for convicted terrorists backed by the settler movement. This included Honenu, an Israeli settler group that supports the families of Israelis imprisoned for killing Palestinians, and also raised money for Yigal Amir, who assassinated former Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin.

The tax deductible status of the settlement donations is raising some eyebrows, since the settlements themselves are illegal under international law, and not recognized as legitimate under US law either. Every administration since 1967, when the West Bank was occupied, has been at least nominally opposed to settlement expansion.