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>> edwin black is next on booktv. he argues that tax exempt or otherwise publicly subsidized organizations like the fordorg s foundation, george soros open on society foundation's, and the new israel fund are working to block peace and reconciliation between jews and palestinians it israel. this is about one hour and 20 minutes. >> so i am edwin black and thisa is myck second appearance in th ubst two years.on the s on the subject of human rights. i will begin this briefing briefn the same way that i began my last briefing for congress, for representative trent franks on the subject of eugenics in the united states. that is that i come here not as a republican or democrat or liberal or conservative, but as

an historian and investigative reporter who is concerned primarily with human rights. i make no political distinctions in fact, it is because i make no political distinctions in because i have combated within a political point of view, that the reason for my presence here is so apropos. it has been a long journey for me to get to this room. really, it is the culmination of almost half-century of hum almost a half-century of human rights investigative journalism, going back to, i guess, the 60s and 70s. that's in the 20th century for those of you tuning in. i have looked into the case of the armenians. i've looked into the case of the appellations, the african-americans and jim crow. the native americans, the muslims in the mesopotamians

going all the way back in history. of course the jews and the holocaust. because my jews are holocaust survivors. and i specialize in one thing. asking the question that must be asked, that everyone is afraid to answer. i can give you the parallel to when i wrote my book, ibm, the holocaust. i saw an ibm machine is the very first relic at the holocaust and you hear in washington d.c. the 6 million people had seen it before me and no one thought to ask the question, what was ibm's role in the holocaust? of course as you know, ibm organized all six phases of the holocaust, and the identification of the jews, they're after us, deportation and even the extermination never denied it.

when i did buy a book on eugenics, war against the weak, we talked about genocide by america against 90% of its citizens, by the greatest powers in this country, the intellectual elite, the progressive elite, fueled by corporate money and corporate philanthropy. the crankiest fusion and rockefeller foundation, which resulted in the sterilization of some 60,000 americans and the untold erasure of untold numbers of people who are never boring. and this is what got me into the round of philanthropic abuse and i became studied in the topic of charities to take their money for non-charitable purpose and for tax money, which is being misused. when i did my work on eugenics, this program that i wrote about

was not a secret. it was a law in 27 days. it had been passed and developed by the greatest political minds, legislative mines, academic minds, judicial mind, that no one thought to ask the question, what is this genocide? and of course under international law the destruction of this many people was of course genocide. about 10 years ago, i was assigned by the gta, the jewish new syndicate to investigate the ford foundation for funding numerous groups in the united states, and the u.n. durban conference against racism. these organizations were blatantly anti-semitic, anti-sinus and anti-israel,

anti-peace. when this investigation broke all over the world, some 20 members of congress pressured the ford foundation to remove its funding from newsgroups. that's exactly what the ford foundation did and that channeled their money into a new organization. the name of that organization was the new israel fund. now over the past 10 years, many people have come to me to ask me to take a fresh look at how taxpayer money is being used in israel. we're spending a lot of money, in this country, to assist peace and reconciliation in israel because that is the american school. that is an american value. it turns out that my investigation documents that taxpayer money is actually

financing the flames of confrontation and even terrorists and. i am going to beat reefing today on policy, on what is wrong with american policy, what is wrong with american legislation and what we can do about it. i'm going to start with one of the most astonishing facts that i found. american taxpayer money is fungible in financing terrorist salaries of palestinian terrorists who are come to depend serving time in israeli prisons. the more heinous their crime, the more of your money they're getting. here's how it works. if a palestinian terrorist commits an act of terror against innocent civilians, say a family or a virus with a bomb or even

just killing someone with a knife, that person immediately goes on an official palestinian authority salary. and that's salary escalate under a law, a palestinian law called the law of the prisoner. the more heinous of crimes, the more money the palestinian kids. these amount to some of the best salaries and the best compensation and the palace indian authority. we are talking about thousands of dollars a year. and we are talking about thousands of dollars each month. here's how it works. how do they decide what is the most heinous crime? they let the israelis decide. it depends upon the prison

sentence. so the sliding scale involved so much money for one year of prison, five years of prison, 10 years of prison and even 30 years in prison. this money is paid directly to the prisoner during his time in prison. it is a report for the acts of terrorism. the prison is provided with a poa, power of attorney and he transmits that money for holding ours fending to his wife, his girlfriend, his family, his buddies, his organization. in some cases it's the plo. in some organizations is another terror sound. where is this money coming from? the pa is constantly in the bad and it draws its money from donor countries such as the united states. this constitutes approximately

four to $7 million a month at about 6% of the entire palestinian economy. and it's a prioritized amount of money. that means if they've got a million dollars in the bank and they've got starving kids on the one hand, they'll pay to prisoners dolorous first and they'll take care of their starving kids later. it is a priority. they have their own ministry. the palestinian ministry of prisoners devoted to overseeing and executing this program and they have a cause that governmental organization called the prisoners club that makes sure that if anyone tries to allocate money in a way that will circumvent the obligation to pay the prisoner, this prisoners club will agitate within the palace tinian community. more than that, any attempts to

stop that money will be shut down by the so-called streets. this is not a secret program. this is a program that the palestinians considered to be precious. not only do the individuals get a stipend for an act of terrorism, but stipend is actually linked to a rank in the palestinian authority. if the crime is heinous enough, they make the guy equivalent to an honorary deputy minister. so you can go from rags to riches and being a nobody in the palestinian authority then

stabbing an individual. there hasn't been a lot of area for quite a while. that person spends all the time to the best of his ability, giving medical therapy to victims of terrorism. and not only just the israeli kids, the palestinian case, everyone who comes along. just standing at it stop and the palestinian plan took a bus down to the junction, had a knife in his back, walks up to the man and stabbed him. it's built right out onto this

trees. once he put his weapon down, the israeli police would not shoot to kill. he knew that once he went to prison for once he was sentenced by once he got into the criminal justice program, his family would become revered. in fact, they did become celebrities. most of all, he knows that he is not going to serve 10, 15, 20 years. he knows that in the near future he is going to be on the list for another prisoner swap, whether that is the next collage chili or the person they were planning to kidnap just days ago when they discovered a major tunnel and god said that was big enough to drive a mack truck through. whether that involves ascent to

through. whether that involves ascent to lack that we are not going to come back and talk at the table unless we get 400 prisoners released. these prisoners are not auto thieves and bank robbers. the law specifically designed this as those who have committed acts against the israeli president. in my book, "financing the flames," i had the official spokesman actually reading from the law. he went so far as to make a point of it in thing i remember, this isn't for ordinary criminals. this is just for those who have committed acts against the israeli presence. now many people in congress are shocked about it.

everyone i've told the shocked about it. the only one who is not shocked about it is the palestinian leadership because they shouted this program from the rooftops as a badge of honor. most of the bureau chiefs at the western media in jerusalem, the diplomatic community, our state department and the foreign ministries across europe. they know about it. there are organizations that follow this. they make special reports that will have a video like me talking about this issue. their tv specials within the palestinian community about directions and righteousness of this program. the only one who doesn't know what the members of congress and their constituents who are giving them the money to

transmit fungibility to palestinian terrorists as salary. that violates american law, every nickel because the law says we cannot pass any money, which would in any way reacher benefit a terrorist. in this case, about 6% of it does. when palestinian authorities have been confronted with the prospect that they will be forced or pressured to stop funding this program, they say our prisoners are too precious. we will never stop. they have a term for it. i think the translation is something different in arabic. it means that any donor who gives any money and want to use

for peaceful purposes, that money is considered tainted and felt the because the greatest priority for this money, according to the words i have cited is to benefit and compensate the terrorists for specific acts of terrorism. your first question is how come you're here about this for the first time? your second question is why hasn't your congressmen heard about this before this videocast? and your third question is, how come i didn't read about this in the paper yesterday? actually, it has been in the times of israel a couple of times. it has been in "the new york times" a couple of years ago as a fleeting reference. the only thing that was not done as it was not followed up. it was not investigated. the sliding scale was not there. the names were not provided.

the numbers were not provided and that has been done in irrefutable documentation and "financing the flames." now what are we talking about with policy? we must immediately stop funding terrorist salaries of convict did terrorists serving in israeli prisons. immediately. i should note that during the government shutdown, the recent government shutdown, which this may be showing in a recorded version later, but it was just some days ago from the times i am speaking out during the government shutdown, are government employees were not getting paid a salary. but the palestinian terrorists were getting a salary. while american citizens are trying to achieve peace with their precious dollars come i

didn't have a paycheck to buy groceries at the end of the week. the second issue is clawback. once we have identified the fact that millions of dollars have illegally gone to the palestinian authority and that were given under false pretenses and/or the assumption that they were going to comply with the law, that they would not benefit terrorists. now we have to say we get the money back. you know what the law was. it was not supposed to benefit terrorists. you proudly told us they would be no way that you would redline this money. money is fungible. you follow the money. i followed the money and i followed it direct way to where it is now living in the pockets

of terrorist prisoners to the tune of about 6% of what we pay through foreign aid from the usaid, special programs, et cetera. that is not going to be an easy pr that is not going to be an easy process because the united states policy is a giant carrier group. it's very hard to turn around, but some team that needs to be done. we are going to move on. let's move on to the subject of 501(c)(3), taxed deductible organizations, another area i have devoted much work to do. five o. one c. threes are charitable organizations. they are supposed to be engaged in charitable acts but as it turns out, in the same way the ford foundation was using exemps tax exempt status and there were many when i did my funding hate peas who challenged whether the

tax exempt status should continue, which is one of the reasons why the ford foundation pulled out at the durban group. i'll be saying more about the ford foundation soon. but if it is a charitable organization, they should be involved in charitable acts. what people have told me, what the critics in israel have told me, which was my duty to validate or invalidate and i did validate it was that the largest of the operating charities in israel today is the new israel fund, which comes back to the same organization that got the benefit of the ford foundation money when i did my original and best occasion in 2003 funding

hate. ford foundation gives money into an organization, a legit organization called the ford israel fund. the ford israel fund that was intended to disperse and fund money to other groups after you check many of the financial reporting papers of the organizations that get the money. there will less the ford israel fund as their funders. they will list the board of directors as their fund heiress. they will list all sorts of programs is being funded at the ford israel fund. no such thing. ford israel fund doesn't exist, never existed. doesn't have an address, doesn't have a phone number, doesn't have a bank account. it's run out of some guy's house in new jersey who was an outside air. actually a very nice guy.

it is really just an identification for a pool of money that actually went to the new israel fund. all right. so now we know there is no ford israel fund. there's more to the story, by the way. the ford foundation saw the light and not only pulled this money out of the turbine groups, it has pulled its money out of the new israel fund and it has told us many -- it has pulled the right to use its name in the ford israel fund. the ford israel fund, some months ago had a makeover and is now known as the social justice fund. that is because this nonexistent charity, making nonexistent grants, through an entity that never existed now has a new name and that new name no longer

reflects the ford foundation. now this is a good time for me to say something about the ford foundation. they cooperated with me in all parts of my investigation and they have had a complete turnaround in their outlook. probably to new leadership from the president, lewis would be nice. they are no longer funding agitation groups. they are now funding such things as the anti-defamation league, which promotes peaceful solutions. they are funding the holocaust memorial in israel and they're trying to do the charitable or today's that their charter called for them to do. either way, just one bit of clarification. for decades there's been no connection between henry ford and the ford motor company, the great anti-semites and hitler colleagues, the ford family

exited the ford foundation some decades ago and they are not connected to it. the ford foundation now is almost a detached second iteration of its original henry ford identity. so i just want to make sure that the ford foundation cooperated with me. i also want to make clear that although i do give some time investigating the george soros foundations and the new israel fund, the new israel fund was very, very help pull in all of my work and very transparent with me and hit just about nothing, which is why i was able to get just about everything. so, let's talk about what the new israel fund is doing. the new israel fund is getting

charitable donations, but it's not a charity. the new israel fund is a social action entity. it is a political entity. they like to say, we are not about soup kitchens, were about social change. and they fund about 800 other ngos as nongovernmental organizations in israel. .. and that's important to recognize that the people who i've investigated are trying hard to achieve their goal, but just as the people running the eugenics program and the united

states thought that the best way to achieve greatness in america, utopia in america, was to erase the existence of 90% of our american citizenry, members of knesset that the israeli legislature and members of the american -- of the israeli military have come together in e multitude to tell me that they believe that the new israel fund is committed to de-stabilizing the israeli defense forces, and the racing a jewish identity from the state of israel itself. i'll be specific their allocated just three names that there are many more. the the deputy speaker of the knesset, and that would be --

went on record stating to destabilize the idf. i'm going to tell why he thinks that soon. m.k. lewin agreed with that completely. m.k -- kirshenbaum also agreed with that. they went on the record and added their view as legislators that the new israel fund was working through its many funded organizations to erase the identity of the jewish state using taxpayer money, american and other taxpayer money and, furthermore, to create a political force in knesset, a political party, a political wig, a political movement using

american taxpayer money as a war chest. now, let me just tell you something, um, there's a lot of politics in israel, and naomi pace, the communications director of the new israel fund, once said to me -- actually several times -- everything in israel is political. politics is okay in israel. that's all they do is politics. they can, i mean, if you think there's a lot of politics in the united states, you can quadruple that in israel. but every man, woman and child taxpayer in the united states should not pay for the war chest of a political party in israel. and what do i mean by that? i mean that for every one

million dollars in tax donations that the new israel fund and any other fund gets, $440,000 has been a subsidized by american taxpayers. they like to say, as i said, we're not about soup kitchens, we're about social change. but the fact of the matter is, of the 800-plus organizations that they fund in israel and of the many organizations that those organizations fund as this octopus goes down to smaller and smaller arms, it's only scores of organizations that are involved in the topic that i'm currently talking about today. we shouldn't overlook what's good, what easter my good with what easter my bad involving the new israel fund. that's the way to have bad policy.

now, a couple of organizations were so the lighted -- spotlighted by the israeli military men, and i spoke to men at the bottom rank, at the middle rank, at the top rank, men in the field. i spoke to an organization called consensus which represents 300 officers in the israeli military probably spread across all of the services, and they spoke decisively that they believe that the new israel fund through several of its key funding recipients is working to destabilize the israeli military. now, why is that important? because israel has proved that it can't be beat on the battlefield with tanks, artillery pieces and airplanes. so they say that a new front

has -- and they've all used this word, a new front has been opened up in israel, and it's a human rights front. it's human rights engaged in political militancy. two organization toes spring to mind -- organizations spring to mind. one is an organization called bitsellum. what do they do? they're interested in recording infractions by israeli military men in the field. and how do they do this? when an israeli soldier has been deployed in the west bank or anywhere in israel for that matter, he is surrounded by protesters and activists with handheld cameras sometimes just inches from his face.

he's standing there and surrounded, as you saw in some of the pictures that i showed you before and as you saw in the trailer done for the book. while that's happening, the israeli -- the palestinian and left-wing israeli protesters are taunting the soldiers. they're insulting his mother, they're insulting his country, they're insulting his manhood, they're insulting his humanity. they're taking flags and hitting his face mask. the parents are engaged in classic child endangerment, classic human shield action. they take their own kids, ask they you should their -- and they push their kids right into a guy's m-16. when finally, cameras rolling, if and should the soldier react,

that is videotaped, and that is sent up to the internet and is the basis for a boycott action or a prosecution or a complaint or the portrayal of israeli military men as brutes and bullies even though they're probably the only military in the middle east and one of the few in the world that i can tell you about where every soldier carries in his vest, in his shirt pocket a shawl card reminding -- a small card reminding him of what his honor and duty is to civilians. they take it seriously. and israel has a civilian army, and every high school kid does his time for a couple of years when he gets out of high school and before he goes to college, but there is no butting l room -- wiggle room for human rights in the israeli army.

is it possible for israeli military transgressions throughout history, and i've written a few books of history, about ten, going back to the first professional military men, that is, the first salaried military men in be history whether it be the roman centurions and the roman army, there have always been infractions. that's always going to be the case. that's why we have human rights, to make sure that there is a law. but human rights must never be political. human rights must never draw a sharp line at one man's religion. everybody is entitled to the same level of human rights. and even soldiers have human rights. that's called for in many of the geneva treaties. so we have a situation where

seem are playing for the camera. now, i record one situation in the book in a town which is a small town, it's a hamlet. its residents number some 550 to maybe 580 persons. they're all related through direct or indirect family links. they're all part of one family. and, um, these individuals have a staged riot every friday. it's not a spontaneous protest, it's a staged, orchestrated, planned protest. everybody knows what to do. they are, they march down the hill, and they try to get to the road to close the road. finish the road is several meters down the hill. remember this: all media, all

legislators, all observers or the middle east and of the israel/palestinian conflict, we're not be talking about miles here. we're talking about meters. it is sometimes the distance involved is oftentimes shorter than from this wall to the edge of the building. the protesters come down, the parents shove the kids into the soldiers because the soldiers let them protest. they protest all through town. but when they approach the road, the road must be -- to the capital of israel and its other cities must be kept open. the kids are pushed. the soldiers are prepped and trained. i've been in their sessions. i had bulletproof vest, i had a kevlar helmet, i was ready for the riots, for the tear gas and the molotov cocktails.

and went -- if and when the soldiers react, the town and its volunteers who are actually members of the protest will be there to capture the footage. now, this is interesting. the volunteers for the town are actually the protesters themselves or the cousin of the protester or living in the household of the protester or the next door neighbor of the protester. and these cameras are coming from money which has been provided by the new israel fund and by other organizations similarly situated who are, who feel it's their goal to have this situation play out.

and it does lay out. it plays out every friday at approximately 1 p.m.. as a journalist, i was told exactly what time to leave my hotel, exactly what time to arrive, exactly what time the riot would start and exactly what time things would get hot. they play to the camera. and in this case, it was my photographer. my photographer was stuck in a traffic jam. my photographer didn't leave his hotel in time or didn't leave his home in time. he was stuck. i got all these people ready to riot, i got the soldiers standing with their face masks and their guns, nothing's happening. why? no photographer. so there's a videotape on the internet right now of me with

the protesters complaining that there's been no act of violence by the soldiers against the protest, and that's a fraud, and the fraud is being perpetrated because i am there to watch it. and they're actually complaining, this'll be the first time in the history of the nonviolent movement that people have bitterly complained that their protest was not be hit by soldiers. and then my photographer, his name was boaz, he finally got with the program, and he showed up. i said, it's all over. you're late. he said, i did the best i could. as soon as he's there with the big-bodied, wide angle lens and the mechanized camera bodies and the rolex and the lights and all this kind of stuff, they see him, the riot starts. rocks get thrown, crowd control

measures go into effect, the scene is made, people are playing for the camera. if those cameras were not there, the action would not take place. and what does that mean? that means there there could bee friday at that town without a riot. wouldn't that be a start? just a tiny little start? beyond that, one of the chief organizers of the protests gets paid, gets compensated to record the details but only when there's an act of violence with jude parties. injured parties. that means if it's a peaceful protest and no one gets injured, there's no money. but if the protest gets out of hand and causes injuries,

countermeasures, afflictions, this person gets $85. $85 is approximately four times, three to four times the average daily wage in the palestinian authority. so one of the best paying jobs in the palestinian authority is to report on the casualties and injuries that may result from a riot that you yourself are part of orchestrating. that is enabled by american taxpayer policy. okay. now, how am i sure that they're playing for the camera? they'ral stint yangs in a tiny town with only one street, and they speak arabic.

the israeli soldiers are teenagers mainly, just out of school, and they speak hebrew. but the entire riot is conducted in english. it's conducted for the press. it's conducted for the e.u., it's conducted for the observers, and it's enabled by taxpayer money voted right here in this, in this building where i am standing or across the corridors by people who have their offices here and other donor countries throughout the e.u., and the reason i say it is american taxpayer policy is because it is the taxpayer policy that allows noncharitable activities, political

activities, confrontation activities to be funded for tax-exempt organizationings to the tune of $440,000 for every million dollars. i think the last time i checked in the last several years, the new israel fund was able to garner from all sorts of everywhere about a quarter of a million dollars, that's $250 billion. where does this money come from? it doesn't come from a potential allocation -- from a special allocation from the state of new mexico, it doesn't come from a special allocation from the house of representatives, it comes from individual donors. there are donors, many of them jewish, many of them who just don't know where the money's going or don't care or do know who are giving this money to organizations not just in new

israel fund, but to many other funds which are involved in agitation and confrontation activities. you want to see the names of these organizations? go to tear web site -- their web site, hit the word donate. they tell you which tax-exempt entity will accept pass-through funds. the money is washed for them through these entities. some of these entities don't even have addresses. some of these entities are working out of p.o. boxes, and somehow they're charities. they say, well, we're modern. we don't need an office. and i'll be happy to provide the specifics by pointing them out in chapter and verse in financing the flames or through the hearings that i am calling for to take place as soon as possible on exactly what has happened with the next american

taxpayer policy. this will also bring up several other dynamics if we're to right the course, if we're to do things correctly. and that is going to be how do we address the continued 501(c)(3) status of organizations not engaged in charitable works, but which have the spirit of the law, but who are engaged in political activity and confrontation activity? what do we do to rectify the situation and help it going forward? now, i didn't mean to just zero in on bitsellum, and i want to emphasize that they were very helpful and transparent to me in all of my time if israel. there's another organization called adalla, and adalla is

devoted to getting israelis prosecuted as war criminals in international tribunals. israel is surrounded in a sea of war crimes. they're surrounded at the north by syria where i had to revise -- i spent six months writing my book, i had to revise the death toll three times and the refugee toll three times because there are so many millions of refugees and such a high six-digit number of massacred, the depths in every family. -- deaths in every family. lebanon, where there are sectarian bombings to the north. to israel's south and to israel's west, um, individuals can be splashed with acid

because they have not followed certain types of law. there is, people have political differences in gaza, in egypt. they throw them off rooftops. they don't even have kangaroo courts. they just see them, they convict them by virtue of an eye, of a visual decision, and they throw them off rooftops. but these organizations are dedicated to convicting israelis, so israelis feel they cannot make the right decision in the field because no matter what they do, they're going to be second guessed and triple guessed. possibly in a court of law, possibly in an international war crime tribunal. now, i also found fascinating when i followed the money of these organizations that while there are jewish donors giving

money to the new israel fund to give to bitsellum and adalla, for some reason these organizations -- i don't want to zero in on them alone, there are many others -- are, these organizations are also getting abundant financing from funds, banks and other institutions which are controlled by iran, saudi arabia and iraq. so what is the common intersection between iranian and saudi funding and the funding that comes out of greater new york city and boston and all over the world? so this brings up the issue of how do we close the loopholes, you know? closing the loopholes is something we do in this country. god knows, there's enough loopholes to drive a mack truck through. and the first thing we do is we

call into question how the money is being spent. we found out that the internal revenue service in this country knows the concept of political action, and they take lots of steps when they want to. so now it is time for the irs and the legislatures to determine if the 501(c)(3) status of these organizations is justified, or part of it may not be justified because there's so much good work that the new israel fund is doing that it is just this monumental wing that has to be addressed. and then, of course, we have to look at the donors. if the donors know that their money is circumventing the spirit of the law, if the donors are doing this deliberately,

naturally, there would be prosecution and clawback and penalties. i believe that most of the donors are not aware of what is going on, and that means that the phrase "did know" or "should have known" comes into play. that's the phrase that they give to us, and then we will have to ask were you aware that your money was funding this? did you do your due diligence? is there amnesty, a question of amnesty should be extended. or a better way to say it, draw a bright line in the road as of today. we now know that there are questions. it is possible that donors with the best feeling in their hearts have given to a cause.

and not just the new israel fund be, but many others that are spending their monies in ways that they might not think correct. that they might not want to happen. and here's the interesting part, the new israel fund is doing nothing beneath the table. the new israel fund is doing nothing subrosa. they're -- sub rosa. they're completely transparent. you don't need an investigative reporter named edwin black to figure this out. you just need a laptop and a mouse and a google account. and you can go up there, and you can see all the activities that are being done. they are completely transparent. all the monies that are being spent, and you would do the same due diligence that you would do in an organization that you were investing in, because that's what a donation is, an investment. are we going to invest in peace, are we going to invest in confrontation? and the answer is, we need to

invest in peace. because while i was in israel, i found that this same nation of israel that is under attack, 70,000 palestinians each day, that's 70,000, are going into israel across this line and working for israeli wages. equal wage, equal work conditions, equal employment, lots of watchdogs to make sure it happens. but these people are hiding in the shadows. they don't have videographers following them around. we have pictures of them in the book with their faces blocked out and their facial characteristics changed because we don't want to get them killed. what's their death sentence? living and working in the peace with israelis, with their

neighbors. and that's why the administration is actually pushing this program, this approach of economic cooperation and peaceful coexistence. secretary kerry has a $4 billion investment plan. why not? the two richest billionaires in the area, one palestinian and one israeli, are both offering to prepare their, to propel their billions into joint economic projects that will uplift the entire land. i had a guy i spoke to in gaza, and i went all over the west bank. i sat in the homes of the palestinian protesters. i listened to their point of view. i listened to the fathers of israeli soldiers who had been killed by terrorists. i listened to the human rights

organizations. i listened to the knesset members. i listened to as many people as i could find. naturally, even though my work is not the 7,000 words that would fill a series in a newspaper, it's 77,000 words. and even that leaves 99% of everything out. which is one of the things i say about all of my work. no heart how fat the book -- no matter how fat the book, you're always leaving out 99% of everything. my question is, is it not possible for these people to live in peace? the same question has been asked for decades and centuries. as you know, i come at this from a historical perspective. i've written six books on the ottoman empire and middle east

history going back all the way to abraham. and i can tell you that the same program was advanced in 1918, in 1920 at the san remo conference by the league of nations where the israel mandate was put into effect, the palestinian, the palestine mandate was put into effect to create equal homelands for arabs and jews. and the arabs declined. and i can tell you that the same thing occurred in 1936 and '37 with the peel commission when the british said let us make -- if these people cannot live together, let us divide this tiny, tiny, tiny land into two halves and let these people live side by side in peace, two nations for two peoples. and that was not accepted. in 1948 there was a war of independence when everyone --

when the british withdrew and everyone was invited to declare their own state. the israelis declared their state, the arabs did not declare their state. the egyptians occupied gaza, the jordanians occupied the west bank, and, um, and the ceasefire said no lines shall be drawn. we stopped shooting, but we're still not drawing lines. and this has gone on war after war, treaty after treaty where nobody wants to draw the lines. now, we have a chance to draw the lines now. there's another round of talking, but that will never occur as long as terrorists are being paid by american taxpayer funds feng my to commit acts of terror and as long as our 501(c)(3) donations are paying

for confrontation and an erasure of the identity of the jews. you know, one of the things i found the jews in israel, one of the things i found fascinating was that we allow by this system organizations who enforce an anti-semitic regime and perspective against jews in israel. let me give you an example of what i mean by a that. if a jew goes to the temple mount and his lip is seen to quiver like that, he can be arrested or expelled for a perceived prayer. an arab would not be. if a jew moves into a certain household or plants an olive tree in a certain area, he will be con fronted by one of -- confronted by one of the funded ngos in israel not because he

didn't plant the olive tree correctly, not because he couldn't afford to buy the house, but because he was jewish. our open housing laws would never permit in the united states a person to be excluded on the basis of their religion. and therefore, one of the things congress must do is they must immediately monitor the organizations in question to make sure that none of their funds either support acts of terror, acts of violence, acts of breach of the peace and, indeed, acts which discriminate against any organization or any individual or any family because of their religious background. i remember sitting with adalla, their representative. another very nice guy. you know, when you do these investigations, you find nothing but devoted, intellectual people involved in this process.

we were sitting in the american colony hotel which is a great hotel in the east jerusalem where lawrence of arabia spent some time and general allenby, and i asked him what their mission was. and he said their mission was to document military war crimes and things of that nature. and they said whenever israel retaliates against gaza, they document that, and they send that over for prosecution. i said what happens when gaza shoots rockets over to israel? that's not our job. now, i know the adl, the anti-defamation league in the united states, and they stand up for the rights of gays and blacks and muslims and jews and christians everywhere in the world. i know the naacp stands mainly for its minority, but does not stand quiet when other people are afflicted in its midst.

i know that me call rights and human rights groups in this country would never consider saying, well, we will recognize the human rights of everyone except a jew. yet this is what our american policy, this is what congressional policy has manufactured, this incredible monster that needs to be tamed, this incredible monster that needs to be undone. and that is the purpose for my coming here today to congress, to tell you that the research i did in "financing the flames" puts it all together, it puts it in one place, it uses intense tools of documentation with hundreds of footnotes. when a 10 or 20-man documentation team volunteers all over the world as i have for all of my books helping me

document the process, there are many pages in this book dedicated to complimenting the good works of the nif for balance that exist anywhere in journalism. but it's all going to start over again now. today we start a fresh day. today congress says we've made a mistake. we have built a bridge that's not a bridge of peace. it's like the bridge over the river quay. abraham lincoln said who has done it to us? we have done it to ourselves. and that is why i've come to congress, that is why i've given six months of my life to writing "financing the flames." and now i'll yield to the rest

of the world, and i'll take questions. thank you very much. i'm going to take some questions both from the assembled media here, we have several, and i'm going to take some questions from seem -- from people, from constituents all over the united states who have sent their questions in in a -- so i'm going to start by asking -- here's a question from florida. all right, let me take that one second. let me start with shirley dave. do you have a question on behalf of of the armstrong -- [inaudible] >> you've answered my question. i just wanted to say you asked early on if this will ever end, and that is my question. do you think this will ever end --

[inaudible] reach congress to stop the -- [inaudible] >> congress is, the house of congress is a house divided, i understand that. but the house of congress, although it is divided, is unified on several issues. they're unified on the issue of mideast peace. they're unified on the issue of reconciliation between palestinian and arab. they're unified on the issue of charitable works. and they're unified on the issue of terrorism. i believe that we can start today, and we can do the job that the rest of the media and the world have not done and bring this to the attention of congress. i'm asking for hearings. i know that the armstrong williams show will be asking for those hearings too, and i'm thinking it's possible we can make some, we can make some progress. let me take a question from -- do you have a question? >> i would just say, you know,

there's a lot of, you know, separation between the parties. do you think that there is a way to get to the world more than, you know, just the united states in the matter? how, you know, because do you believe it could be more than just drawing lines? >> which agreement? >> so you talked about how, you know, they're not drawing lines in these agreements, and it's creating separation. do you think there is -- >> you mean the warring parties in the middle east? >> yes. >> what the warring parties in the middle east has got nothing to do with this session, has nothing to do with this question. the question is, will they be allowed to decide on their own without that, without that conflict, without that discussion, without that disagreement confounded and confused by taxpayer money which is being spent to achievement and the exact opposite?

, actually as a bargaining chip. so really if there would be success here, the parties would be left alone to talk amongst themselves. but peace doesn't have a chance, because peace doesn't pay in israel because there's no money in it. finish only confrontation pays, only terrorism pays. it's kind of like asking saudi arabia to stop exporting oil. that's what they do for a living. in the palestinian authority, this donor money comes when the street gets hot. people don't pay extra because somebody worked in a hotel and was courteous. people don't pay extra because some israelis and arabs got together and had dinner and said how do we work it out. i want my line to be there, and you want my line to be there. what can we do in the middle? the greatest territorial

conflicts in the world, and for this work i studied them. i studied all the walls in the world. i think there are 41 walls. i studied the walls in northern ireland, i've studied the ones up to today, the wall between yemen and saudi arabia. i've studied the wall, the wall in cyprus, the walls of beirut, the wall that we're building between us and mexico. i've studied all of these walls. territorial disputes, they go back to abraham. they're in the bible. i'll be on my hill, and you'll be on your hill. people of goodwill can make that decision. people of goodwill can say there's 300 feet between my house and your house, let's work it out. neighbors have always been able to come together. so really don't ask -- we can't ask the wrong question. this is a human rights issue, and human rights must never be politicized and under the mask of human rights we must not

mobilize millions for the sake of confronting human rights and creating a political imbalance, okay? all right. i'm going to take a question now from detroit. this is from martin. and martin wants to know, martin wants to know if just as hamas and hezbollah have massive charitable operations but do not get american taxpayer money, should the new israel fund be put in the same box? well, i'm sorry to say that's a totally wrong question to ask. you should never mention the new israel fund and hamas and hezbollah in the same breath. the reason -- i understand the

reasoning behind this wrong question. hezbollah and hamas all have charitable wings where they have soup kitchens and summer camps and things of that nature, but they also have this militant wing. now, the new israel fund does have its massive charitable wing, and it has a massive political wing, but there's nothing approaching the scope of hezbollah and hamas in this arrangement. but the way you avoid it going into that is by setting bright lines of what can and cannot be be done with american taxpayer money. remember, anyone can start a political party in israel. all they need is a photocopier, and they've got a political party. the question is, should every man, woman and child in iowa, florida and north carolina pony up for the war chest for that organization to have a political

party? let me take another question. all right, this is a question from a publication called the alga minor. it is one of our publication sponsors. stand by. and one of the questions that they asked if i found it -- here it is -- is, by the way, the alga minor i'm reminded to say, the chairman is eliewiesel, and i did not know elie was a journalist in his earlier days as i was and still am. so the question from the managing editor there is how

come so few people understood what was going on with the new israel fund, and we have interviewed several nif donors, and not one of them knew about these activities. the new israel fund, once again which does many good things and has in this agitation wing as part of its philosophy, the new israel fund is completely transparent. and if donors are so naive as to give their hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to organizations where they have not done their due diligence to see what is going on, then i guess it's sort of -- it sort of follows the model of all of wall street where people are given money to corporations and investing and then the corporations go belly up.

but in this particular case, the organization, the individuals and the foundations are investing in peace. but the peace dividend is not coming. i think the main reason the donors don't know is because the media is the spotlight in this country. and people must be informed. and while there's a vibrant business press that covers every tiddle and jot of what is going on in the business world, there are very few people like myself who investigate what's going on in the human rights world. that's what i did with carnegie, that's what i did with rockefeller, that's what i did with the ford foundation, and i've done it now -- not to spotlight the new israel fund be, but with about 80 organizations that i looked at. i looked at all their financial records, and i think it's the start of a new day.

i'll take one more question. all right. this is similar to the same question i got wednesday. the new israel fund is famous for retaliation. are you fearing the new israel fund, what have they done? new israel fund is famous for retaliation, that's true. a lot of people were afraid to speak to me on the record. many people did. lots of famous people said, lots of government officials said i'd rather not mention any company by name, any organization by name, but we're -- we all know who we're talking about. so i asked that very question to the head of the nif, his name is daniel. and i quote from his response. he says, um, and daniel is the number one guy in san francisco.

of it's funny, quote, this is clear to me, the it's a symptom of where we are. the nif does not go after anyone like that. i do not, i do think some of these folks are saying that the nif is now synonymous with the bogeyman. but it bears very little relation to reality. if we had the power that so many on the left and right attribute to us, i ask why are we struggling against so many attacks? we get blamed for everything. it's patently absurd. it bears no relation to reality. it would be laughable if if it wasn't sort of sad. so in other words, the new israel fund has been spotlighted before by many critics. perhaps not in the united states, but certainly in israel. and that just shows as soon as they say -- which they say all the time -- it's a bunch of

right-wing guys, that's the proof positive that it's political. because if, how does a charity become the object of a right-wing or a left-wing attack unless they're involved in politics? if you're involved in politics, you're certainly not a charitable organization. as to what has happened to me, i know that a lot of things have happened to me since i started this investigation. i know that members of the ngo community that i investigated then named went to my editors weeks before i went to my editors and said we know edwin black is writing an article for you. we were approached by individuals who, for press conferences. you were at one of them a couple of days ago who said they'd heard about it. and they just wanted to see what it