Taking the war to the antisemites

 Do you remember the Holy Land Foundation? Allow me to refresh your memory, courtesy of the FBI:

In December 2001, three months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Holy Land as a “Specially Designated Terrorist” group. We raided the organization’s Texas headquarters, seized its assets, and shut down its operation. At the time, Holy Land was ranked as the country’s largest Muslim charitable organization.

Hamas was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1995, and that made contributions to the group illegal. The 108 counts the Holy Land defendants were convicted of yesterday [2008], including providing material support to Hamas and money laundering, carry stiff sentences. No sentencing date has been set.

During the trial, the government presented evidence that Holy Land Foundation and the five defendants provided approximately $12.4 million in support to Hamas and its goal of creating an Islamic Palestinian state by eliminating the State of Israel through violent jihad. Evidence was also presented that several of the defendants have family members who are Hamas leaders, including Hamas’s political chief, Mousa Abu Marzook.

Some of Holy Land’s staff went to the slammer. Others started a new organization called KindHearts. Here’s what the Treasury Department had to say about them:

KindHearts is the progeny of Holy Land Foundation and Global Relief Foundation, which attempted to mask their support for terrorism behind the facade of charitable giving, said Stuart Levey, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. By utilizing this specialized designation tool, we're able to prevent asset flight in support of terrorist activities while we further investigate the activities of KindHearts.

But Holyland alumni are like the little engine that could. And guess where nine of them went next? Here’s an excerpt from my cover piece in the July/August issue of Commentary:

…nine former Holyland employees were located, still in the United States. They came together to run an organization called American Muslims for Palestine, a parent of… you guessed it… Students for Justice in Palestine.

There’s been a lot of great work done on the pro-Hamas, pro-terror network that calls itself everything from Students for Justice in Palestine to Samidoun; you can see some of it here in Tablet Magazine, or in the testimony of FDD’s Jonathan Schanzer before Congress. These organizations are overtly supporting Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and others. And yes, the details, maps, and acronyms are enough to make your head spin. But they’re organized, and organization will be required to take them down.

When Commentary editor John Podhoretz called me to ask me to put together a roadmap for a legislative war on antisemites and their pro-terror sponsors, I was excited to try to do my part. But it won’t be easy — indeed, I spent pages laying out the challenge before I set out what I hope will be the beginning of the solution.

Here are the headlines, though I commend (she said modestly) the piece to you in its entirety:

1. Fix foreign funding laws (Sec 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965) to ensure universities comply with requirements to notify the federal government about foreign donations. Add penalties and make it a criminal statute.

2. Lower the bar for required notifications from $250,000 to $50,000.

3. Ban derivative non-profit status: Don’t allow umbrella 501(c)(3)s to lend their tax-free designation to other organizations (like Students for Justice in Palestine).

4. Bar employees of terrorist-designated organizations from reconstituting themselves as different non-profits.

5. Expand and redefine the concept of “countries of concern” — mostly Russia, China, and Iran in current law — to include nations that provide financial support to terrorist organizations like Hamas. In short, add Qatar to the list of countries of concern.

6. Revoke student visas for those involved in “rioting or unlawful protests.” (Yep, the leaders of a lot of pro-Hamas encampments were, in fact, foreign nationals.)

7. Amend “material support” statutes to include providing material, internet platforms, or other assistance to designated terrorist groups.

8. Require tax-exempt non-profits to disclose donations from countries of concern (see above) or individuals in those countries.

9. Outlaw the BDS movement unless the boycott is specifically authorized by Congress or via Executive Order.

There’s lots more, but that’s a snapshot. Many of the pieces of this list have been introduced by Members of Congress, Democrat and Republican. There have been multiple hearings, particularly in the House of Representatives, that have trained a spotlight on the growing problem of Jew-hatred in academia and elsewhere. But right now, Chuck Schumer is stopping the Senate from taking up the Antisemitism Awareness Act, and other major efforts are stalled.

Jews are one of the only remaining unprotected minorities in the United States. And ever since the end of World War II, much of the Jewish community’s attitude has been to prevail by succeeding — in academia, in business, in politics. That’s not enough anymore. This isn’t an argument for affirmative action (God forbid) or for special treatment. This is an argument in favor of creating an environment that protects Jews (Zionists, pro-Israel Americans, all of us) from terrorists, their foreign sponsors, and their domestic cheerleaders. Because if we don’t act, we all know where this is headed.

Danielle Pletka is a distinguished senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the host, with Marc Thiessen, of the podcast What the Hell is Going On. You can find them on Substack @WhattheHellisGoingOn

https://whatthehellisgoingon.substack.com/p/wth-taking-the-war-to-the-antisemites