J Street disingenuous

Isi Leibler
Candidly Speaking from Jerusalem
25 July '10

As I wrote in my July 19 column (”J Street’s new outrageous initiative“), J Street has enraged many American Jews by calling on its members to lobby the US Treasury to question the tax deductibility of charitable donations benefiting institutions over the Green Line.

It is now running for cover by disingenuously claiming it seeks to question the legality of these donations, as distinct from their tax deductibility status, as claimed below

“J Street has not called for and is not lobbying for the tax deductible status of organizations that fund settlement activity to be revoked, as posited in “J Street’s new outrageous initiative” (July 19) by Isi Leibler. According to its statement on the matter, J Street is calling for an investigation into possible illegal activity committed by these groups“. (Corrections, July 21).

The fact is that it has launched a major campaign highlighting a New York Times article titled “Tax Exempt Funds Aid Settlements” that questioned their deductibility.

In its press release, J Street explicitly states that funds raised are “tax deductible contributions.”

So there can be no doubt as to its intention, it has urged its supporters to bombard the Treasury Department, which is responsible for matters of tax evasion, with demands for an investigation.

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Hezbollah acts local, thinks global

Tony Badran
NOW Lebanon
21 June '10

A couple of recent arrests have once again shined the spotlight on the subject of Hezbollah’s global networks, namely its financial networks and illicit sources of funding worldwide. Some of these are based not only at the United States’ doorstep, but actually within its borders.

On June 3, it was reported that a Lebanese couple was arrested in Ohio for attempting to smuggle $500,000 to Hezbollah in the hollow sections of a vehicle. Then last week, Interpol announced that it had arrested Moussa Hamdan (a dual Lebanese-American national who was indicted in the US last year) on suspicion of funneling money to Hezbollah in Ciudad del Este, on the Paraguayan side of the notorious tri-border area where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet. Hezbollah has allegedly set up a lucrative base in this region from which to finance its operations.

The Ohio couple was not the first to be held in the US this year on charges of Hezbollah-related smuggling. For instance, back in February, three Florida businessmen were arrested for smuggling game consoles and other electronics to a mall in Paraguay, which was identified by the US Treasury Department as a Hezbollah front establishment. The episode highlighted the potential danger posed by the party’s logistical bases in South America.

The question of Hezbollah’s finances remains somewhat obscure, and the militia’s budget continues to be the subject of speculation. Hezbollah watchers regularly note that the group receives anywhere from $100 to $200 million a year from its patrons in Iran (a sum that may have been increased substantially in 2006 to cover for the losses suffered in that year’s war and the compensation effort that followed).

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