Investigation shows extreme Israeli group is fundraising in US

Money raised by Shlom Asiraich is going toward families and prisoners, including Rabin’s assassin and two men convicted of murdering Palestinians.

The Israeli group raising funds for Jewish extremists convicted in some of the country’s most notorious hate crimes is collecting tax-exempt donations from Americans, according to findings by The Associated Press and the Israeli investigative platform Shomrim.

The records in the case suggest that Israel’s far Right is gaining a new foothold in the United States.

The amount of money raised through a US non-profit is not known. But the AP and Shomrim have documented the money trail from New Jersey to imprisoned Israeli radicals who include prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin and people convicted in deadly attacks on Palestinians.

This overseas fundraising arrangement has made it easier for  Shlom Asiraich to collect money from Americans, who can make their contributions through the US nonprofit with a credit card and claim a tax deduction.

Many Israeli causes, from hospitals to universities to charities, raise money through US-based arms. But having the strategy adopted by a group assisting Jewish radicals raises legal and moral questions.

It also comes against the backdrop of a new, far-Right government in Israel led by  Benjamin Netanyahu, where ultranationalists and extremist lawmakers have gained unprecedented power.

According to Shlom Asiraich’s promotional pamphlets, its beneficiaries include Yigal Amir, who assassinated Rabin in 1995; Amiram Ben-Uliel, convicted in the 2015 murder of a Palestinian baby and his parents in an arson attack; and Yosef Chaim Ben David, convicted of abducting and killing a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in Jerusalem in 2014. The group also assists an extremist ultra-Orthodox man who fatally stabbed a 16-year-old Israeli girl at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade in 2015.

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Extreme Israeli group takes root in US with fundraising bid (AP)

Probe finds group supporting Jewish extremists in Israel now also fundraising in US (Times of Israel)

Photo: Amiram Ben-Uliel at the Central Lod District Court (EPA/Avshalom Sassoni/POOLImage)