Big Money Democratic Donors Are — Knowingly or Not — Fueling Anti-Israel Protests on America’s Campuses

Some of President Biden’s biggest donors are helping to fund the very anti-Israel campus protests that are dividing the Democratic party and threatening the president’s reelection.According to an analysis of nonprofit donation records by Politico, some of the most famous names in Democratic politics have helped fund two groups that are deeply involved in the ongoing campus protests — IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace. The latter was suspended from Columbia’s campus after the October 7 attacks, along with Students for Justice in Palestine. Jewish Voice for Peace — like Students for Justice in Palestine — describes itself as explicitly anti-Zionist and a major proponent of the “boycott, divestment, and sanctions” movement. Those who have donated indirectly to those groups include George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates, David Rockefeller Jr., and Nicholas Pritzker. Much of the money delivered to IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace has come through the Tides Foundation — a liberal social justice group that provides “fiscal sponsorship, donor-advised funds, collective action funds, expert grantmaking, and strategic advising” for activist groups, according to the foundation’s website. Both Mr. Soros and the Gates Foundation have provided money directly to the Tides Foundation. Mr. Rockefeller, who sits on the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, gave $300,000 to the Tides Foundation in 2022. Mr. Pritzker — the heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune and a cousin of the Illinois governor — also has donated, via his foundation, to anti-Israel protest groups. His donations to the Libra Foundation have helped fund the Climate Justice Alliance and Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity — two groups that have promoted and been involved in anti-Israel protests since the October 7 attacks. Not only are liberal donors indirectly funding the protests, but veteran activists from the Vietnam war and Civil Rights era are helping to train the anti-Israel protesters. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Columbia University demonstrators attended a “teach-in” with former Black Panthers at Harlem months before the protests began. “We took notes from our elders, engaged in dialogue with them and analyzed how the university responded to previous protests,” Sueda Polat, a graduate student and organizer of the protest, tells the Journal. New York City’s leadership has taken a strong stance against the protesters by sending police officers on to campuses at the request of university leadership. The police clearings of several encampments has already occurred at Columbia University, City College, New York University, and the New School. Mayor Adams told ABC News on Sunday that he wants to “terminate” any threats by using the “minimum” amount of force necessary. “We knew we had to get permission unless there’s imminent threat to life, or severe threat to property,” Mr. Adams said. “We were not going to overstep our legal authority.”“One has the right to have his or her opinion, and I respect that. … And I have an obligation and responsibility to ensure the city is safe,” the mayor continued. Democrats have been fretting for months about the impact of the war on Mr. Biden’s reelection chances. Since Israel launched its counter-offensive against Hamas, the president’s polling among young voters — a demographic that favored him overwhelmingly in 2020 and helped deliver him the White House — has declined sharply. According to a CNN poll from April 28, Mr. Trump now leads Mr. Biden by one point among voters aged 18 to 35. That could prove deadly for the incumbent president come November, considering voters under 30 constituted nearly 40 percent of new voters in the 2020 election, and they broke decisively for Mr. Biden. The recent campus protests have only exacerbated that problem. As students and young people sit on their campus greens in violation of their school’s regulations, chanting “Genocide Joe,” Americans have mostly rejected the protesters. According to a recent poll from YouGov, just 28 percent of Americans support the protests, while 47 percent are opposed. Democrats in Congress are concerned that the war and the ensuing protests are going to have a serious effect on the president’s reelection chances. “If the election were held today, it would be a factor,” said Congressman Jeff Jackson, who is running for North Carolina attorney general.Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who traveled to Columbia University to stand in solidarity with the demonstrators, says the war is “absolutely a factor” for young voters because they are “appalled” by what is going on, according to CNN. But she says that the president can make up ground with young and liberal voters by focusing on issues here at home rather than supporting Prime Minister Netanyahu. “Young people are facing a very strong array of challenges. I think it’s really about doubling down on that — making healthcare affordable, housing affordable.”Senator Fetterman, a fierce supporter of Israel, tells CNN that the “pro-Hamas wing” of the protests will weigh the president down, and could easily deliver Michigan — a key swing state — to President Trump in November. “They definitely have a pro-Hamas wing of the protesters, and there is some antisemitism,” he says. “When you have a choice of standing with a group of cowards and rapists … I’m always going to stand with Israel.”“If they want to throw Michigan to Trump in that way, then you’ve got to own that fire,” Mr. Fetterman says.

Big Money Democratic Donors Are — Knowingly or Not — Fueling Anti-Israel Protests on America’s Campuses

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