Marching Toward Violence: Countering the Movement

Marching Toward Violence:
The Domestic Anti-Israeli Protest Movement (full report)
Executive Summary | Background | Four Overlapping Circles
Strategic Alliance | Conclusions | Countering the Movement
Table of Pro-Terrorist Groups | Appendix A: Pro-Terrorism Groups
Full report PDF

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Countering the Movement

Legislators, law enforcement, and concerned citizens have at least 10 options for taking action against the pro-terrorism, anti-Israel protest movement.

Option #1: Strip nonprofit status from criminal organizations. If an organization intends to commit crimes, the organization is ineligible[1] under the tax code for tax-exempt nonprofit status, regardless of whether it considers its actions to civil disobedience, as pointed out by Daniel Greenfield.[2]

The IRS code referenced by Greenfield deals with a situation closely analogous to the current situation: The tax-exempt status of an antiwar and pro-disarmament organization whose primary purpose is organizing “nonviolent direct actions” including protests “in which demonstrators are urged to commit violations of local ordinances and breaches of public order.”[3]

The organization intended to “deliberately block vehicular or pedestrian traffic, disrupt the work of government, and prevent the movement of supplies” as acts of supposed civil disobedience.

The IRS ruled that the organization cannot qualify as a 501(c)(3) charity:

In this case the organization induces or encourages the commission of criminal acts by planning and sponsoring such events. The intentional nature of this encouragement precludes the possibility that the organization might unfairly fail to qualify for exemption due to an isolated or inadvertent violation of a regulatory statute. Its activities demonstrate an illegal purpose which is inconsistent with charitable ends.… Accordingly, the organization is not operated exclusively for charitable purposes and does not qualify for exemption from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Code.[4]

It ruled similarly regarding the organization’s suitability for 501(c)(4) status as a social welfare organization:

Illegal activities, which violate the minimum standards of acceptable conduct necessary to the preservation of an orderly society, are contrary to the common good and the general welfare of the people in a community and thus are not permissible means of promoting the social welfare for purposes of section 501(c)(4) of the Code. Accordingly, the organization in this case is not operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare and does not qualify for exemption from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(4).[5]

A review with legal experts who specialize in this area of law should confirm the apparent applicability of these IRS rulings to the current situation and the nonprofit organizations involved in urging and committing illegal protests.

Option #2: Charge offenders under federal racketeering and sedition laws. Prominent legal and counterterrorism expert Andrew McCarthy, who led the prosecution of the “Blind Sheikh” responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as the assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, argues that existing federal laws are sufficient for prosecuting nationwide networks of subversive rioters and saboteurs, such as the Antifa anarchists.[6]

The militants involved in the current movement are violating laws against seditious conspiracies in which violence is used to forcibly oppose the U.S. government, overthrow the U.S. government, or wage war on the U.S. government. In addition, federal prosecutors could file racketeering charges against aspiring rioters who cross state lines or use interstate facilities such as phone and internet services.

Option #3: File state-level charges and use domestic terrorism statutes. Law enforcement agencies should aggressively file state-level domestic terrorism charges and other charges stemming from the perpetrated crimes when justifiable by the collected evidence.

The state of Georgia’s prosecution of over 60 militant anarchists of the Defend the Atlanta Forest/Stop Cop City coalition using Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) laws and the state domestic terrorism statute could serve as an example for other.[7]

Another potentially useful example is Florida’s state statute that makes it a first-degree felony to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Its definition of material support and resources includes providing personnel. It defines someone who provides personnel as someone who “knowingly provides, attempts to provide, or conspires to provide himself or herself or another person to…work under the direction and control of a designated foreign terrorist organization.”

Students for Justice in Palestine’s declaration that it is a part of Hamas and is responding to its calls to action seems to be a violation of this statute.

The Florida state government’s decision to deactivate two student chapters of the national SJP is justified by this statute.[8]

Critics of Florida’s move erroneously minimize SJP’s behavior as constitutionally protected expressions of political opinions.

SJP has likely run afoul of similar statues in other states that prohibit material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations.

Option #4: Deport terrorism-supporting foreign protesters. Foreign nationals who support terrorist organizations and acts of terrorism pose a serious national security risk, damage the health of U.S. civil society, and do not deserve to reap the fruits of residing in the U.S. while treating the country as an enemy.

Such extremists pose a particular danger on college campuses where there are ample opportunities to threaten the civil rights of Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel students and to engage in disruptive activity with the purpose of shutting down or undermining freedoms of speech, assembly, and association.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) has repeatedly urged the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act by deporting aliens who undeniably support terrorism or terrorist organizations like Hamas.[9]

The act deems any alien who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization” as inadmissible. Perpetrators can and should be deported and barred from reentering the country.[10]

There is debate surrounding the constitutionality of such actions. George Fishman, former acting chief counsel for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Department of Homeland Security Deputy General Counsel, provides a convincing analysis that the Supreme Court would uphold deportations of terrorism-supporting aliens.[11]

Option #5: Federal designate foreign groups as terrorist organizations. The State Department’s criteria for designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization[12] appears to be met by some of the anti-Israel extremist groups involved in terrorism or materially connected to terrorist groups, such Palestine Action in the U.K. Samidoun in Canada and the BDS National Committee, Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and Addameer Prison Support and Human Rights Association in the West Bank and Gaza.[13]

The Treasury Department also has the power to designate the groups as Specially Designated Global Terrorists,[14] Specially Designated Nationals,[15] or Transnational Criminal Organizations.[16]

Any of these labels would trigger a wide range of sanctions against individuals and entities associated with the designated group and cripple their ability to operate in the U.S. In addition, it stigmatizes the group and those allied with it and potentially makes it easier for the intelligence and law enforcement communities to investigate and possibly prosecute those in the groups or closely associated with them.

Option #6: File class action lawsuits against Students for Justice in Palestine. The Middle East Forum (MEF) is proposing class action lawsuits against SJP on behalf of Jewish, Israeli and pro-Israel students based on RICO and the Anti-Klan Act of 1871, which have been used to cripple extremist groups in the past.[17]

MEF is confident that a class action lawsuit on behalf of all Jewish and Israel-born students over SJP’s interstate campaigns to violate their civil liberties is viable. The organization says it has chronicled over 100 incidents in which SJP conspired to forcibly suppress their free speech and other rights.

It also suggests taking action based on the Anti-Klan Act of 1871, which permits claims against those who are involved in conspiracies to violate civil rights, as well as those who know of such conspiracies and have the power to stop them but decline to do so.[18]

SJP leaders, activists, financiers, and associated organizations could all find themselves held liable if this were to happen.

Option #7: Proactively educate reporters on groups’ extremism. Activists concerned about this issue can make a vital and likely fruitful contribution to the cause by educating reporters covering the protests, many—if not most–of whom are immensely overworked and underpaid. The omissions mentioned in this study are more likely the results of overstretched resources than a malicious agenda to provide positive press for mass-murdering terrorists.

Media consumers can take note when a leader or organization involved in the protests is named or quoted in a news report and use this study and other resources to send a kind and informative note to the reporters about the people they are citing. Many reporters appreciate receiving additional context and will consider it in future reporting.

Option #8: Substantiate claims of foreign support by safely declassifying credible intelligence. The Biden Administration’s Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines stated, “We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests and even providing financial support to protesters.”[19]

The American people deserve to know generally how Iran is accomplishing this and what entities or individuals in the U.S. are involved so they can be held accountable, if not legally, then at least in the court of public opinion. The intelligence community should be forced to responsibly declassify intelligence related to this allegation as soon as possible and to stretch the limits of its risk tolerance to release as much information as can be done with without posing a tangible and significant risk to its classified sources and methods.

Option #9: Reform nonprofit and higher education regulations to increase transparency and accountability. Most of the pro-terrorism, anti-Israel extremist groups are either registered as 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or operate via a 501(c)(3) that acts as its fiscal sponsor.

Fiscal sponsorship is an arrangement where a nonprofit houses a group as an internal project and accepts donations on its behalf, usually in exchange for a commission. The deal enables the group to escape almost any transparency because it is freed from required disclosures to the public and government.

The WESPAC Foundation,[20] Alliance for Global Justice,[21] Tides Advocacy,[22] Tides Center,[23] and Chinese Communist Party-linked[24] Progress Unity Fund[25] are examples of fiscal sponsors for some of the most important and inflammatory anti-Israel extremist groups including Students for Justice in Palestine, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, Samidoun, Within Our Lifetime, Dream Defenders, the ANSWER Coalition, Palestinian Feminist Collective, Adalah Justice Project,[26] Arab Resource and Organizing Center,[27] and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.[28]

Capital Research Center Senior Research Analyst Robert Stilson has suggested four specific reforms to increase accountability:

• Requiring fiscal sponsors to disclose certain information about those projects it sponsors,
• Improving disclosures of grants,
• Expanding disclosure of payments to highest-paid staff members and independent contractors, and
• Enforcing disclosure of foundations’ individual investment holdings.[29]

In addition, legislation has already been introduced in Congress that would increase the level of scrutiny on tax-exempt groups and their interaction with foreign entities. One proposal would require a tax-exempt group to disclose foreign grants, another would require many tax-exempt organizations to disclose certain foreign contributions and their source, and a third would limit contributions to political committees if a tax-exempt group received foreign funding. These bills attempt to reduce the ability for these groups to be used as conduits for foreign bad actors.

Other congressional proposals focus on the obligations of institutes of higher education to disclose their foreign funding. The Higer Education Act already requires colleges and universities to report foreign gifts greater than $250,000, but most schools fail to comply with those provisions. Legislation has been introduced that would tighten those requirements and set strict repercussions for schools that continue to withhold that information from the public.

Option #10: Pressure universities permitting unchecked anti-Semitism through high-profile donor statements and actions. Some large donors to top universities are withholding their financial contributions as a result of the schools’ handling of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic terrorism supporters on campus.[30] The public disputes over donations has sparked concerns that donors of all sizes will begin to restrict their giving to universities and colleges nationwide based on the responses to campus demonstrations.

Donors’ complaints include leadership’s delayed or equivocating stances after the October 7 attacks happened; alleged failures to crack down on protesters engaging in threats and crimes like property destruction or physically resisting arrest; inadequate measures to keep Jewish and pro-Israel students safe, and biases in teaching.

While some legal experts have warned that donors may not have as much leverage in pulling back donations that have already been received by the university, they can certainly withhold future gifts, and do so publicly to maximize the impact of negative public relations.[31]

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In the next part, see Appendix A for the list of more than 150 pro-terrorism groups.

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[1] Internal Revenue Service, “Rev. Rul. 75-384, 1975-2 C.B. 204,” https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/rr75-384.pdf.

[2] Daniel Greenfield, “Defund the Soros Hamas Insurrection,” Frontpage, November 8, 2023. https://www.frontpagemag.com/defund-the-soros-hamas-insurrection/.

[3] Internal Revenue Service, “Rev. Rul. 75-384, 1975-2 C.B. 204.”

[4] Internal Revenue Service, “Rev. Rul. 75-384, 1975-2 C.B. 204.”

[5] Internal Revenue Service, “Rev. Rul. 75-384, 1975-2 C.B. 204.”

[6] Andrew McCarthy, “Laws Against Rioting and Terrorism Must Be Enforced Against Antifa and Other Violent Radicals,” Fox News, May 30, 2020. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/andrew-mccarthy-laws-against-rioting-and-terrorism-must-be-enforced-against-violent-radicals-ravaging-cities.

[7] R. J. Rico, “61 Indicted in Georgia on Racketeering Charges Connected to ‘Stop Cop City’ Movement,” Associated Press, September 5, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-cop-city-protests-rico-charges-3177a63ac1bd31a1594bed6584e9f330.

[8] Ray Rodrigues, “Deactivation of National Students for Justice in Palestine,” State University System of Florida, October 24, 2023, https://www.flbog.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Deactivation-of-Students-for-Justice-in-Palestine.pdf.

[9] Tom Cotton, letter to Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Senate, October 16, 2023, https://www.cotton.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_mayorkas.pdf.

[10] Tom Cotton, letter to Alejandro Mayorkas.

[11] George Fishman, “Deport Foreign Students Who Celebrate Mass Murder: Should We? Can We?” Center for Immigration Studies, November 2, 2023, https://cis.org/Report/Deport-Foreign-Students-Who-Celebrate-Mass-Murder-Should-We-Can-We.

[12] U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Counterterrorism, “Foreign Terrorist Organizations,” https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/.

[13] InfluenceWatch. “Addameer Prison Support and Human Rights Association,” https://www.influencewatch.org/organization/addameer-prison-support-and-human-rights-association/.

[14] “Specially Designated Global Terrorist; SDGT,” “31 CFR § 594.310, https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/31/594.310.

[15] U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, “56. What Is the Difference Between the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List and the Commerce Department’s List of Denied Parties? Why Can’t They Be Integrated into One List? What About OFAC’s Other Sanctions Lists,” January 30, 2015, https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/topic/1631.

[16] U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, “Transnational Criminal Organizations,” https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/transnational-criminal-organizations.

[17] Gregg Roman, “The Case for a Class Action RICO Lawsuit Against SJP to Combat Campus Antisemitism,” Middle East Forum Observer, August 29, 2024, https://www.meforum.org/the-case-for-a-class-action-rico-lawsuit-against.

[18] Gregg Roman, “The Case for a Class Action RICO Lawsuit Against SJP.”

[19] Jacob Magid, “White House: Iran Is Funding, Emboldening Anti-Israel Protests in U.S. to Sow Discord,” Times of Israel, July 10, 2024. https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-intel-chief-iran-funding-emboldening-anti-israel-protests-in-us-to-sow-discord/.

[20] InfluenceWatch, “WESPAC Foundation,” May 22, 2024, https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/wespac-foundation-inc/.

[21] InfluenceWatch, “Alliance for Global Justice,” April 29, 2024, https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/alliance-for-global-justice/.

[22] InfluenceWatch, “Tides Advocacy,” April 16, 2024, https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/advocacy-fund/.

[23] InfluenceWatch, “Tides Center,” April 15, 2024, https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/tides-center/.

[24] Network Contagion Research Institute, “Contagious Disruption: How CCP Influence and Radical Ideologies Threaten Critical Infrastructure and Campuses Across the United States,” Network Contagion Research Institute, May 13, 2024. https://networkcontagion.us/reports/ccp-influence-and-radical-ideologies/.

[25] InfluenceWatch, “Progress Unity Fund,” November 2, 2022, https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/progress-unity-fund/.

[26] InfluenceWatch, “Adalah Justice Project,” June 24, 2024, https://www.influencewatch.org/organization/adalah-justice-project/.

[27] InfluenceWatch, “Arab Resource and Organizing Center,” August 7, 2024, https://www.influencewatch.org/organization/arab-resource-and-organizing-center-aroc/.

[28] InfluenceWatch, “International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network,” September 18, 2020, https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/international-jewish-anti-zionist-network/.

[29] Robert Stilson, “Some Suggestions for Improving the Form 990,” Philanthropy Daily, March 18, 2022, https://philanthropydaily.com/some-suggestions-for-improving-the-form-990/.

[30] Eric Revell, “Antisemitism Has Billionaires Bailing on Ivy League Donations,” Fox Business, November 2, 2023, https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/antisemitism-billionaires-bailing-ivy-league-donations.

[31] Ellen P. Aprill and Jill Horwitz, “What Do Universities Owe Their Big Donors? Less Than You Might Think, Explain 2 Nonprofit Law Experts,” Chronicle of Philanthropy, December 20, 2023, https://www.philanthropy.com/article/what-do-universities-owe-their-big-donors-less-than-you-might-think-explain-2-nonprofit-law-experts.

Source: https://capitalresearch.org/article/marching-toward-violence-part-6/