Major payment software no longer handling donations for Palestinian terror-linked NGO
Gabe Kaminsky
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The major payment processor Stripe is no longer handling donations for an “anti-capitalist” and “progressive” charity following multiple Washington Examiner reports on the nonprofit group’s Palestinian terrorism ties.
A coalition of 11 pro-Israel groups in August called on Stripe to sever ties with the anti-Israel Arizona organization Alliance for Global Justice, which has come under congressional scrutiny for being linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group, after the software company Salsa Labs dropped it earlier this year. Now, the Alliance’s fundraising operation is being powered by PayPal, while Stripe appears to have quietly jumped ship.
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“We are pleased to see financial institutions take appropriate action against those who fund terror and will continue to contact and inform other financial institutions that may not realize they are assisting terror funding when they do business with Alliance for Global Justice,” said President Marc Greendorfer of Zachor Legal Institute, a think tank fighting antisemitism that has accused the charity of providing material support to terrorism in violation of federal law.
The development involving the Alliance and Stripe is a direct result of a series of Washington Examiner articles that have described how the Alliance fundraised for Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a French member of the Israeli-designated terror coalition Samidoun that the Alliance fiscally sponsors. Samidoun has shared staffers with the Popular Front, which has been responsible for high-profile plane hijackings and bombings, and organized “campaigns that support and/or glorify convicted terrorists,” according to Zachor.
In February, Salsa Labs stopped handling credit card transactions for the Alliance, which were completed through a contractor called CardConnect. While pro-Israel groups cheered the decision, which meant the 140 groups the Alliance provided with nonprofit status and handled accounting for could not fundraise electronically, Stripe later provided the Arizona group a lifeline with its software services.
The Alliance also touts on its website how it fiscally sponsors the Honduras Solidarity Network, the anti-Israel media website Popular Resistance, Black Lives Matter-Oklahoma City, and other left-leaning legal groups, such as the Action Bail Fund, which according to its social media supports “radical dissent” in New York City and helps bail protesters out of prison.
But PayPal’s decision to now process transactions for the Alliance comes years after it joined other companies in cutting off services for Samidoun, which in 2021 was designated by Israel’s government as a terror group and a PFLP “subsidiary,” documents show. And in June 2020, PayPal closed Collectif Palestine Vaincra’s account, the Jerusalem Post reported. Discover stopped processing donations for the Alliance in 2021, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
PayPal does not allow parties to use its services for “the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime,” according to its acceptable use policy.
“For the second time in less than a year, the Alliance is changing its fundraising platform, suggesting that financial companies are doing due diligence and staying far away from anything connected to NGOs with alleged ties to terror groups and those accused of hateful activities,” Vincent Chebat, senior researcher for the Israeli watchdog group NGO Monitor, told the Washington Examiner.
Chebat added, “Paypal should do the same.”
Stripe, which processed $817 billion in transactions last year, does not work with any group that “engages in, encourages, promotes, or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property” or “any group based on race, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other immutable characteristic,” according to its terms and conditions.
The Irish-American payment processor discloses on its website it uses Wells Fargo, PNC Bank, and Cross River Bank. Zachor, which previously contacted the IRS and Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control about Stripe working with the Alliance, provided written notice in August of the charity’s Palestinian terror ties to the three financial institutions.
“We have forwarded [t]his email to our Financial Crimes department and they will follow-up if necessary,” a Wells Fargo employee told Zachor on Aug. 30, according to emails reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
Republicans in Congress, including Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Mike Lawler (R-NY), as well as House Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), previously took aim at Stripe over processing donations for the Alliance.
“Stripe should be completely transparent on why it is choosing to do business with Alliance for Global Justice or any group with suspected ties to Palestinian terror organizations threatening genocide against the Jewish people,” McMorris Rodgers said in July.
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Alliance for Global Justice and PayPal did not reply to requests for comment.
“Stripe has a policy against commenting about any user or sharing the details about any review, so unfortunately I’m unable to provide information regarding this case,” Christopher Abboud, a spokesman for Stripe, told the Washington Examiner.