Some companies involved with the crowdfunding have taken action to disentangle themselves from the settlers, Israeli media said. Their reactions show how the US and British sanctions, aimed at just a handful of individuals, could ripple widely in the intertwined global financial system.Eitay Mack, an Israeli human rights lawyer, said crowdfunding campaigns have become crucial to raising money for settlement outposts. While Israel has established scores of settlements across the occupied territory, the outposts are not authorized, though the government gives them tacit support. The international community overwhelmingly considers all West Bank settlements illegal and obstacles to peace.“This is a huge loophole that has been going on for years,” Mack said. “If the crowdfunding could be stopped, this could be a game changer. The outposts are not able to operate without this money.”MEITARIM FARMLevi founded Meitarim Farm in 2021 in the South Hebron Hills, according to a contract between him and the local regional council, shared with the Associated Press by anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now. The outpost’s development was helped by crowdsourcing — a campaign on website JGive, started by a non-profit, raised nearly $6,000.As the outpost developed, over 300 people from four nearby Palestinian hamlets fled their homes, citing violence by Levi and other settlers, Peace Now said.After the US sanctions were announced, a fundraiser popped up on Givechak, run by the “Mount Hebron Fund.” Contact information listed a government email address, indicating it was linked to the Har Hebron Regional Council. The fund has an account with Bank Leumi, putting the bank at potential risk of US penalties.The fundraiser’s contact was Levi’s brother, Itamar, to whom Levi transferred ownership of a company he co-owned, apparently to try to skirt sanctions, Israeli media reported. Even after the page was taken down, Itamar Levi continued to accept donations to a Bank Leumi account, emails obtained by the AP showed.Levi, his brother, the fund and the council declined comment.Givechak does not divulge donors’ whereabouts, but it is possible to donate from the U.S. Several donors wrote their names in English. The page was circulated on American social media platforms.A major donor was listed as Chaim Ben Pesach, head of an ultranationalist Jewish group designated as a terrorist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Ben Pesach posted the page to X, formerly Twitter, urging followers to “help the heroes before we lose our sovereignty completely.” Contacted by the AP, he denied making the 5,000 shekel ($1,500) donation, but said Levi’s children were “victims of the Biden administration’s anti-Israel and antisemitic sanctions.”After the page was taken down, a clearing company refused to transfer the funds to Levi’s family, which filed a lawsuit to try to secure the money, according to legal documents shared with the AP by The Democratic Bloc, an Israeli NGO monitoring far-right groups.
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