Is the Biden Administration Funding Mass Protests in Israel?

Media reports and senior Netanyahu officials claim that U.S. taxpayer money is bankrolling major organizer of anti-judicial reform protests.

By: Lauren Marcus – worldisraelnews.com

A senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration said that the mass protests against potential reforms to Israel’s judicial system are being partially funded by the American government.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity to Hebrew-language news outlet Zman Israel on Friday, the official said that “this protest is financed and organized with millions of dollars.”

He added that the protests, which have seen hundreds of thousands of demonstrators block traffic and march through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on a weekly basis, are being funded from a central source.

“This is a very high-level organization. There is an organized center from which all the demonstrators branch out in an orderly manner,” the official said. “Who finances the transportation, the flags, the stages? It’s clear to us.”

Though the official did not explicitly name the Biden administration or the U.S. as the source of the funding, other senior figures have said they believe American money is fueling the protests.

Netanyahu’s son recently tweeted a link to a Breitbart article which linked the U.S. State Department with a major organizer of the protests.

That Breitbart article heavily referenced a Washington Free Beacon report which claimed that U.S. taxpayer funds are being provided to the Movement for Quality Government (MQG), an NGO that is promoting the demonstrations.

“The State Department, which confirmed the funding, calls the group a nonpartisan organization, but its work opposing Netanyahu raises questions about how the group was able to obtain U.S. funding,” the Washington Free Beacon report notes.

“The United States typically avoids funding foreign partisan groups to avoid claims of political meddling.”

Rep. Jim Banks (R – IN), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the Free Beacon that he was concerned about the funding to MQC.

“The State Department should never fund foreign partisan organizations in allied democracies,” he said.

“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.”

In related news, World Israel News reported that amid the current controversy regarding the Israeli government’s plans for judicial reform, which sparked mass demonstrations across the country for the past 10 weeks, Tel Aviv University is hosting “Israel Democracy Week’ to discuss the issues.

The TAU rector, Prof. Mark Shtaif, clashed with his colleagues who oppose the legal reform, Channel 14 reports.

“Democracy Week began with an impressive demonstration, and you won,” Shtaif wrote to his colleagues, saying that only one side of the debate was presented.

“If there was anyone in this audience who was honestly or innocently debating between his support for the reforms and his opposition to it, then he would not have stayed there after the second or third speaker…

“We did not come to listen to those who think differently from us, not even to those who do not know what they think and want to ask questions,” Shtaif continued.

“We came to demonstrate, lecture, preach, condescend and tell everyone how good, enlightened, wise and loyal we are, while everyone who is not with us is a dark person who supports a dictatorship and has no morals.

“Instead of talking about what can be done, we chose to fortify our positions and talk only about what is not possible. We chose to refuse to listen,” he wrote.

(WorldIsraelNews.com)