State Department Funds Group in Israel that Tried to Oust Netanyahu
BY: Andrew Hansen/Contributing Writer
On Tuesday, an Investigations Subcommittee of the United States Senate released a report revealing that the State Department had sent around $400,000 to an Israeli group that aims to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office. Reportedly, money was sent to the OneVoice group over a 14-month span, ending in November of 2014.
The OneVoice group is a movement that promotes grassroots peace efforts between Israel and Palestine. The group acts on a community level, spurring people to act individually to foster better attitudes toward the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. With offices in Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Gaza City, London, and New York City, OneVoice has taken an active role in encouraging several thousand youths in Israel and Palestine to change community attitudes and encourage a solution to the conflict.
Beginning in September of 2013, the State Department began covertly funding OneVoice. Before the funding ended in November of 2014, OneVoice CEO Marc Ginsberg sent an email to Michael Ratney, a top American diplomat in Jerusalem informing him of their intent to launch a multi-million dollar campaign to oust Netanyahu from office. Despite the Federal Records Act requirement, Ratney reportedly deleted the email chain between himself and Ginsberg that signaled the funding money had been inappropriately used for proliferating a political cause.
In fact, the funding that OneVoice received from the U.S. was intended for the group to “build its political infrastructure, including voter contact lists, professionally trained organizers and activists, and an expanded social media platform, that was initially intended to mobilize the Israeli electorate to support peace negotiations.”
One month after the funding from the U.S. State Department ended, OneVoice merged with Victory 15, a group that targets young, liberal Israelis to vote against Netanyahu in main elections. Shortly after, OneVoice and Victory15 launched a multi-million dollar campaign to elect “anyone but Bibi”, a nickname for Netanyahu.
The investigations report led by Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) asserted that the funneling of American taxpayer dollars towards an activist group designed to achieve a political goal violated State Department granting guidelines. The subcommittee claimed that the State Department acted carelessly when handling the grant, stating that they should have kept a closer watch on where exactly the money was going, and what it was being used for.
After this report was been issued, spectators wonder if there is something bigger going on here? Would the State Department intentionally fund a group to vote against Netanyahu, removing him from power? It is no secret that President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu have had unfriendly moments and major differences regarding policy towards Palestine. At the time of the funding, Obama felt that Netanyahu was too “hardline” on reaching an agreement with Palestine, while Netanyahu felt that Obama was not experienced enough to understand the reality of the situation in Israel-Palestine.
Around Fall of 2013, when the funding began, the two administrations were facing a difficult standoff. After the Bashar Al-Assad regime was accused of using chemical weapons on Syrians, the U.S. promised some sort of intervention in the war-torn country if these accusations were found to be accurate. When Obama did not attack Syria on the basis that Assad would renounce his chemical weapons program, Israel began to fear that the U.S. would also go back on its former word of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons – a main concern of Israeli foreign policy makers.
Once Netanyahu discovered that the U.S. had been engaging in secret talks with Iran regarding their nuclear policy brokered by Oman, Netanyahu responded with extreme distrust of the Obama Administration, reportedly, “shouting at [John] Kerry out of control” (NY Times). The relationship between Obama and Netanyahu has only worsened since the Iran Deal.
These differences in foreign policy agendas could explain why the State Department was funding a group asking for Netanyahu’s removal.
The State Department has yet to comment on this funding issue, but analysts believe the report may cause tension within the Israeli government, as well. According to various sources, Likud has been previously fractured regarding their policies on groups such as OneVoice and Victory15, with more right-winged groups claiming that they are outright illegal because of their liberal agendas.
Now, it is clear that American officials will need to decide how important it is to broker a peace deal between Israel and Palestine. If a consenting and peaceful solution is impossible, the next president may also find that using State Department grants is the only way to enact noticeable change in the region.