US Government Backs Anti-Israel Groups Through ‘Dark Money’ Scheme
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – An influential “dark money” liberal group reportedly funds anti-Israel and antisemitic activism across the United States backed by massive amounts in taxpayer-financed grants and contracts.
Data shared by the Washington Examiner, a U.S. conservative news outlet of record, showed that the Tides Center bankrolls groups behind “Hamas-sympathetic protests.”
The rallies came after Hamas, viewed as an Islamic terrorist organization by Israel and most of its Western allies, killed some 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, most of them Jews.
Tides Center, a Democratic-allied charity, has hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, including from the federal government, which channeled $81.2 million to the group between 2006 and 2023, documents showed.
Money also came from billionaire philanthropists such as Bill Gates and George Soros, an investigation showed.
This weekend’s revelations came after the Tides Center faced scrutiny from conservatives for what they claimed was the group’s involvement in “facilitating a dark money pass-through system.” The term “dark money” is used for cases where the source of money is not disclosed to the public.
WEALTHY DEMOCRATS
It allowed wealthy Democrats, including Soros, to pour donations into initiatives housed under the nonprofit Center, whose projects do not have to file tax forms with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
“This process, known as fiscal sponsorship, has the effect of obscuring sources for donations to and from the California-based charity,” commented the Washington Examiner.
Pro-Palestinian projects benefiting from the Tides Center’s tax-exempt status reportedly include the Adalah Justice Project, Palestine Legal, and the Catalyst Project. The groups have reportedly justified and downplayed the Hamas-led October 7 massacres in Israel.
The Tides Center and its sister group, the Tides Foundation, also spent millions of dollars combined over the years on Alliance for Global Justice, a controversial charity in Arizona.
The group reportedly shares ties to Palestinian terrorism and other entities that have celebrated convicted terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
It comes amid concerns about mounting anti-Jewish attacks and perceived antisemitism during rallies where slogans such as “From the River till the Sea, Palestine will be Free” suggest calls for the destruction of Israel, observers say.
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Despite these concerns, the Tides Center received tens of millions of dollars from several government agencies.
Nearly half of the $81.2 million that flowed to the Tides Center in recent years was reportedly routed through a subcontract or sub-grant.
That means the charity received the cash after the federal government first sent tax-payer money to another entity, such as the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, City and County of San Francisco, and universities.
During U.S. President Joe Biden’s time in office alone, the Tides Center received roughly $38.3 million, either directly or through subawards, records showed.
The Tides Center hasn’t yet commented. However, “the Tides Center is a clearinghouse for funding far-left causes, including radical anti-Israel ‘resistance’ groups that have been spotted on college campuses chanting for the destruction of Israel,” complained Benjamin Baird, director of Middle East Forum Action, a watchdog tracking terrorism-tied groups.
“It does not need any help from the federal government, which is only subsidizing extremism by bankrolling a Marxist-Islamist piggy bank like Tides.”
If you are interested in articles produced by Worthy News, please check out our FREE sydication service available to churches or online Christian ministries. To find out more, visit Worthy Plugins.