WASHINGTON
— “Questions raised about the Ford Foundation and terrorist front
organizations obviously must be answered,” said Senator Grassley,
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
The
committee, the Iowa Republican said, “will be reviewing the matter to
determine if the tax code is properly structured to penalize tax-exempt
foundations for making such donations.”
Mr.
Grassley’s announcement came in response to a formal request by Senator
Santorum, a Republican of Pennsylvania, for an investigation of Ford,
part of a growing chorus of voices on Capitol Hill calling for
increased scrutiny of the Ford Foundation’s funding practices.
The
calls come in the wake of a JTA investigation that found that Ford, one
of America’s largest philanthropic institutions, provides millions of
dollars to a host of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian groups that are at
the forefront of a vicious anti-Israel campaign.
Speaking
earlier this month from the Senate floor, Mr. Santorum said, “It pains
me that I must come to the floor today to apprise my colleagues of
allegations that have been reported with regard to some of the
activities of one of America’s leading foundations, the Ford
Foundation.”
The senator cited reports
published by JTA and picked up by newspapers around the country that
“describe how the Ford Foundation gave millions of dollars to dozens of
Palestinian organizations that have been in the forefront of the
anti-Semitic and anti-Israel campaign that is ongoing around the
world.”
Mr. Santorum said he would ask
Mr. Grassley to direct the Finance Committee to “look into this more
deeply and again review the controls we have in place for foundation
activities and grants overseas.”
The
JTA investigation, published a month ago, did not identify any
instances of Ford monies being linked to terrorism. But it described
Ford’s extensive funding of Palestinian groups that turned the 2001
U.N. World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, into a
focused indictment of Israel as an illegitimate apartheid, colonial,
and genocidal regime, with invective that many observers felt crossed the line into anti-Semitism.
Ford
officials refused to answer any questions regarding the activities of
specific Palestinian groups or their use of Ford funds.
The
congressional response to the revelations about Ford was spearheaded by
Rep.Jerrold Nadler,who obtained the signature of 20 colleagues on a
petition demanding that Ford halt its funding of such groups and
observe American government funding guidelines designed to stop
charitable donations to the Middle East from ending up in terrorist
hands.
After the revelations, the
State Department said, “In light of these charges, and because it is an
enforcement issue against a U.S.-based organization, it is an area in
which we are talking to the Department of Justice.”
Sources
at the Justice Department said they still were trying to decide which
department might pursue the matter. “It might be the criminal division
for violations of the Patriot Act,” one official said.
Blain
Rethmeier, a Justice Department press officer, refused to confirm or
deny if an investigation has been initiated. Several congressional and
Jewish community sources indicated they would challenge the
foundation’s tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service.
“Any
time a member of Congress or public individuals complain about
foundations abusing their tax-exempt privilege, it is closely
reviewed,” an IRS official said.
Facing
the calls for scrutiny of its funding practices, the Ford Foundation
seems to be in disarray over its next move. The foundation initially
denied that groups it funded were engaged in anti-Israel agitation.
“We
have seen no indication that our grantees in Durban or elsewhere
engaged in anti-Semitic speech or activities,” said Alexander Wilde,
Ford’s vice president of communications.
“Some
of our human rights and development grantees have certainly been
critical of policies and practices of the Israeli government insofar as
these discriminate against Palestinians or otherwise violate their
rights, according to internationally agreed human rights standards and
international law,” he said.
But, Mr. Wilde added, “We do not believe that this can be described as ‘agitation.’ ”
Mr.Wilde
reiterated that position in a letter to the editor of Canada’s National
Post, insisting, “The allegations are not true.”
The day after the JTA investigation was published last month, the foundation reversed itself.
Bradford
Smith, vice president of Ford’s Peace and Social Justice Programs,
wrote in a letter to the Forward newspaper, “Like many, we were shocked
by the extremist rhetoric of some participants on Israeli-Palestinian
issues.”
Even after Mr. Wilde told The
New York Sun,“We see no way to change the way we do business,”other
Ford officials signaled that change indeed might be possible.
“Separate
from Durban,” Mr. Smith said in his letter to the Forward, “we have
held frank and productive discussions with Palestinian grantees,
including the Palestinian NGO Network, concerning images and messages
that we deemed inflammatory.”
After
Mr. Nadler pressed the issue in Congress, Ford’s president, Susan
Berresford,agreed to meet Mr.Nadler in New York on November 3 to
discuss the issue.“We had done considerable homework before the meeting
to get chapter and verse on their grantees so we could tell them, ‘You
can’t deny what happened,’ ” Mr. Nadler recounted.
“But
at the beginning of the meeting, to my surprise, they claimed they have
not knowingly funded anyone interested in anti-Semitism and
anti-Zionism, or anything to delegitimize Israel,” he said. “I
answered, ‘But you have.’ Then I added, ‘Since you say you don’t want
to, then not only should you not do it, you must be seen by everyone as
not doing it.’ ”
“In essence, we
said,‘Let’s not debate the past. Let’s ensure that what happened will
not happen again,’” Mr. Nadler said.
The
congressman said he laid out specific recommendations, which he did not
make public, to reform Ford’s funding of hate groups.
Ms.
Berresford promised to respond to the recommendations quickly, Mr.
Nadler said. The congressman said he would take a “wait-and-see”
attitude.
Ford also followed up with others, including Jewish officials, to answer the rising tide of criticism.
Shortly
after the Nadler meeting, Ms. Berresford contacted Mortimer Zuckerman,
a press magnate who is the immediate past chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. A meeting was held
November 12, but details were not available. Ford’s initial reaction to
JTA’s investigation has left the foundation with a public-relations
dilemma.
If foundation officials
refrain from taking steps to curtail the hate speech they have
funded,they will be seen as ignoring the problem. But if they do take
steps, it will be an admission that they can rein in the hateful images
and campaigns they finance — and chose not to do so in the past.
When
the Ford-funded anti-Israel Web site, www.palestinereport.org, deleted
its “armed revolution” pages and its direct links to the Web sites of
terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad — steps taken after
JTA published its investigation — Ford officials declined to
acknowledge the change or their role in it.
A
staffer at www.palestinereport.org said, “Ford’s Cairo office called
and insisted we remove the links at once because of the funding
articles — and the problems with the Congress was the reason. We
redesigned the entire site without those links.”
Congress and Jewish groups are insisting on more than cosmetic changes: They want the funding to stop.
The
groups funded by Ford have refused to sign a Certification Regarding
Terrorist Financing, a pledge required by Usaid, which affirms that no
funds have made or will make their way into organizations to “advocate
or support terrorist activities.”
“A
note of reality crept in when Ford saw that the JTA information was
credible and the facts against them were solid,” said Malcolm Hoenlein,
executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents. “We are seeing
the first signs of change, but they are still funding these same
organizations. That is a matter of concern and hopefully we will see a
change.”
Congress and Jewish groups
are demanding complete transparency and open files. Ford does not
provide access to information regarding its grants until 10 years after
the grant is made.
Despite the calls
by members of congress for greater transparency, Ford officials say
they will never open their files.
Abraham
Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said, “I am
delighted that Ford Foundation has stopped denying any possibility of
wrongdoing, but I don’t think a concerned public and Congress will
tolerate much more foot-dragging. If they do not quickly open their
files, then Congress and law enforcement agencies will be forced to
become more involved.”
Mr.Hoenlein
agreed.“My best advice to them is, be forthcoming, create some
mechanism that would involve full disclosure of all the pertinent
facts, correct future practices, and prevent recurrence,” Mr. Hoenlein
said.
The president of the American
Jewish Congress, Jack Rosen, said, “If they don’t agree to open it up,
it becomes even more important that the government investigate whether
Ford is using tax-exempt money in possible violation of government
rules. Whether you are Enron or the Ford Foundation, you ought to be
required to answer.”
Mr. Rosen, whose
organization was the first to call for an investigation, said, “If we
are not satisfied that a government investigation will take place, we
will continue to consider legal action.”
“Ford’s
arrogance is not so much their point of view in having continued to
fund the Palestinian hate groups that support terrorists, but doing so
when they know full well that the U.S. government has shut down Muslim
charity groups that have done the same thing,” Mr. Rosen said.
“We
thought the problem of such funding ended by investigating Muslim
charity groups. Now we find entities with high standing in America may
also be in the same business.”
