Senate Committee: NGO Used US Taxpayer Funds to Try to Oust Netanyahu
JERUSALEM, Israel – A Senate investigation of State Department grants to two NGOs in Israel revealed that U.S. taxpayer funds were ultimately used in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2015 general election.
The grants, totalling nearly $350,000, were awarded to sister NGOs OneVoiceIsrael and OneVoicePalestine and were used in efforts to defeat Netanyahu, a Senate probe revealed Tuesday.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations did not find the State Department guilty of illegalities because there were no restrictions on the grants. But the committee acknowledged that U.S. funds should not be used to influence a foreign election.
Committee chairman Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, took it a step further, saying U.S. funds should not be used to undermine America's allies.
"It is completely unacceptable that U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to build a political campaign infrastructure that was deployed immediately after the grant ended against the leader of our closest ally in the Middle East," The Washington Times quoted Portman. "American resources should be used to help our allies in the region, no undermine them."
While One Voice, creator of the V-15 campaign, claimed the grants were intended to promote negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, it used the funds to create a voter database and social media outreach and to train activists for its "Anyone but Bibi" campaign.
The group went so far as to hire President Obama's former national field director, Jeremy Bird, to help with its Victory 2015 (V-15) campaign to defeat Netanyahu.
While V-15 insisted the funds were not used during the campaign, one of its activists told CBN News at the time how much the group appreciated the help from the U.S.
